When asked what lasting effect award-winning TV play Cathy Come Home had in 1989, Garnett pointed out that the number of homeless in Britain had more than doubled "...but Ken (Loach) and I now live in much more expensive houses.".
Lost his parents at a young age. His mother died when he was five from the after effects of a back-street abortion, and his father committed suicide nineteen days later.
Founder (in 1990) and chairman of World Productions, a British television production company.