His self-penned play enjoyed a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last month.

He is now working with Calderdale College in Halifax on a play for schools about teenage pregnancy and sexual health.

And a "two-hander" he wrote about student debt – Life Is Crisp But So Is Money – will be performed by Lee and college graduate Dan Mullan to hundreds of university students at Leeds Met on Thursday September 25.

He is even being filmed by a TV crew for a BBC3 documentary, to be screened early next year.

By anyone's standards, the leaps and bounds he has taken in writing and acting are a far cry from his ignominious departure from The Ridings School, Ovenden, Halifax, 10 years ago with a GCSE pass in art and an EE grade in English.

"It wasn't the school, it was me," he reflected. "Some people just aren't ready for school. I switched off in class and chose not to learn – but I did enjoy drama."

Unable to commit himself to the classroom, he threw himself into a performing arts course at Calderdale College and last year won a place at the prestigious National Student Drama Festival with a play about the breakdown of a relationship called Talking into the Darkness.

The festival has, in the past, been a springboard for emerging artists, including John Godber, Ben Elton, Dennis Potter and Meera Syal. Lee was the only playwright chosen from West Yorkshire last year and the only student to represent a college of further education.

Last month an offering called Drunk Sex and Camera Roll marked a first for Calderdale College when it was performed at the Edinburgh Fringe by Lee and four of this year's college graduates, with above-average numbers of people viewing the show. Click here to watch a video of a scene from the play.

But behind the dark good looks, the easy smile and the relaxed approach to his writing and performing, Lee has financial problems which have inspired one of his most poignant works. Let loose at the University of Central Lancashire four years ago while on a performing arts course, he "went on the rampage" and ran up a £60,000 debt.

"It was very easy," he says. "There were people falling over themselves to lend me money and at the time, credit cards were so easy to come by. I did silly things, I led a party lifestyle.

"I am now looking at my debts with an adviser. I would never want to be rich – I can't be trusted with a lot of money.

"I need to keep myself busy and just do what I want to do."

What he wants to do includes highlighting the problems of debt to present-day students, although for them, getting credit may be more difficult in the current economic climate. A workshop at Leeds Met, after the "Money" play, will offer students the chance to talk to Lee about his experiences with debt, which have also prompted interest from the BBC.

"If there are 1,000 people in the room and just one is thinking about doing something silly because of debt, or feels worried about it, there are avenues that you can take. Don't make yourself ill over anything, especially money. It's not worth it," he says.

Lee, who lives in Sowerby Bridge, owes another debt – one of gratitude – to Neil Horsefield, head of performing arts at Calderdale College.

Initially Neil refused Lee admission to the performing arts course because he did not have enough GCSEs under his belt, but the student's desire and commitment eventually won him over.

Neil says: "Lee has developed a method of writing in such a way that one minute he has the audience laughing, and the next they are feeling guilty about laughing."

Lee hopes that Life Is Crisp But So is Money will reach a wider audience than the students at Leeds Met and says the Preston university where he ran up his overdrafts is keen to see it.

"I'm hoping to get every university interested in it," he says.