Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
TV writer known for creating Last Tango in Halifax, Happy Valley, and Scott and Bailey.
On the island
Eight records
Victoria Wood influenced me hugely when I was in my late teens. I think she's an extraordinarily talented woman. I wanted to be Victoria Wood when I was about seventeen. Well, I still do really. I could have chosen any number of Victoria Wood songs. I think it's that fantastic combination of the music, the lyrics. She's brilliant, but I've chosen this one. Kind of'cause it takes me back to that period of my life when I first became aware of her.
When I was twelve, Rock Follies of 77 was on telly. It was the second series. I'd never seen the first series. My dad wouldn't let me watch it. I think he thought it was a bit racy for an 11-year-old. And it probably was. But I insisted, I don't know why that I had to watch. I must have seen a trailer and it really spoke to me. And it absolutely blew me away. And it had, of all the television programmes I've ever seen, this is the one that really influenced me more than any other. And so this is The Band Who Wouldn't Die from Rock Follies of 77.
Um this is um Scott Droplin's Maple Leaf Rag and it's performed by the Lebeck Sisters. It's a particular arrangement that I just love. It's so vibrant, it's so alive. It reminds me often of myself on my laptop writing a script because it's played so fast and with such passion and excitement.
My husband Austin is a fantastic pianist. and he suddenly started playing this piece on the piano one day and I was just blown away. And um I I liked it so much I started trying to learn to play it myself. I am a really bad pianist and I've been learning it for about twenty years now and I'm on about page three. But Austin can play it beautifully.
Theme from The Belles of St Trinian's
BBC Philharmonic, conducted by Reuben Gamba
I j I just remember the first time I ever saw a St Trinion's film and the best part was the titles and the music and the lyrics, which we haven't got here unfortunately, but again it was just that fantastic combination of perfect lyrics and perfect music and it's just hilarious.
The Arrival of the Queen of ShebaFavourite
Richard Baker and Raphael Tironi
As I said before, my mum was a really fantastic pianist, and I always wanted to play the piano too, although I could never play as well as her. And we used to play this together. It's an arrangement of The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba for a piano duet, and it has a special significance for me as well, because when my mum and Alec got married, she wanted to walk down the aisle to The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, so Austin played it on the organ in the village church. And then when Alan and Celia got married in Last Tango, Kate played the piano and she played The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, so it's got a lot of really nice resonances for me.
The Bach Choir, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John Rutter
Felix Mendelssohn (arr. John Rutter)
This is Hark the Herald Angels Sing. It's an arrangement by John Rutter. I listen to Christmas carols all the time all the year round because I like them. And um it reminds me of my childhood actually. I used to be in the choir at Ritmonden Church, me and my sister did when we were really little and uh it was good fun. And one year we had to sing Christmas carols at Shibdin Hall in Halifax and it's just a really good memory.
Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23
This is a showponge ballad and it's a piece that again that Austin plays on the piano. It's he usually plays it after we've had a bit of an argument. I don't know if he does it consciously or if he just does it without realizing, but whenever I hear it on the piano it makes me Um sad that we've had an argument.
In conversation
Presenter asks
2:11Is that important to you? [having a distinctive voice]
It's very important. I very consciously developed a style influenced by, you know, very specific writers. Barry Keefe was a huge influence on me when I was in my late teens. I w I went to see one of his plays when I was sixteen, Bastard Angel. And it absolutely blew me away. And he writes in very short sentences. The users full stops, where most people would use commas. And I I do that. I've done that ever since then. Ever since then, I write r these really ridiculously little sh one-word sentences sometimes. And I think it's really important because it's It's a different kind of punctuation and I think it informs the actors what you want.
Presenter asks
2:55How do they take shape in your head? Is it first of all them speaking? Is that where you are, first of all? [about characters]
and to come fully formed. S some of the less uh huge characters, the the s slightly more peripheral characters, they're the harder ones to construct in a web because you feel you are constructing them. But the the big players they they do tend to just come straight into my head.
Presenter asks
5:19How do you think of it when you write these terrific female characters?
I think they're real. I mean, my favorite characters are Flawed. Ah, we're all flawed, we're all funny, we're all weird and we all take our tel ourselves terribly seriously and then we all laugh at ourselves as well and. That's life, and I think the best characters are those. I uh get annoyed sometimes when people say, um, Sally Wainwright writes weak men and I think I write weak women as well. It's just that the women are at the forefront and the men aren't, you know, and I could write equally for men I suppose, but um I s I I don't know, I just find women more fascinating, more interesting. Maybe it's'cause I'm a woman, I'm inside a woman's brain. And I don't quite know what it's like to be in a man's brain, I can guess, I suppose.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Presenter asks
17:43When you walk in there as the new girl on the first day with your pencils sharpened and a head full of ideas, what does that feel like? [writing for Coronation Street]
It was scary. I mean, it was fantastic. It was it was wonderful, but it was very, very scary. And at that time, it was very difficult to get on the team because nobody left. And I think I was only like probably the third or fourth woman to write it.
Presenter asks
23:14How the hell do you find the time and the space and the mental clarity to write in the middle of a household where all these other things are going on?
Well, I've g I guess I was very lucky in that when we decided to have children we agreed that Austin would be the chief carer of the boys. And he's he's always been very good about my work, you know, he's respectful of it. And so we've we've always managed to find Time and space for me to have my own. Were the little boys respectful of it? Um well your life just changes so much, doesn't it, when you've got little children? And y and you can't uh I thought I could write with George sitting in his little chair, his little car seat, and I thought he could sit there happily and I would write. And of course you can't do that. And it's not because they're demanding your attention, it's because you're compelled to look at them, you're compelled to spend time with them, you're compelled to do things with them. But everything's good material for writing about eventually.
Presenter asks
27:43How do you get there? Where do you go inside yourself to mine that truth? [about avoiding sentimentality]
I think Human beings. essentially are Funny. And I think, however dark things get, we tend to respond to things with humour and warmth. And I think. If you can reflect that in drama, it's somewhere towards reflecting real life. I think y y you've got to trust your instinct. And I think I'm just lucky that my instinct are right.
“I think people are born writers, whether they're going to make a living out of it or not. I think people who are compelled to write will write.”
“I do feel like I spend most of my time with people who don't exist and they're very real to me. And they're often more real than real people, which probably means I'm bonkers.”
“I just find women more fascinating, more interesting. Maybe it's 'cause I'm a woman, I'm inside a woman's brain.”
“I'd got into quite a dark place without really realising it. I and then I started writing, um, Last Tango and it was like I was euphoric. It was absolutely like a breath of fresh air. It was like walking into the sunshine.”
“I'm never happier than when I'm writing and it's going really, really well.”