My prime on big birthday
aware of Lorcan’s mental health.very much so. But he’s a teenager and it’s hard to get him to talk about his feelings.
“He’s a very good cook, helps around the house and he sorts me out on Zoom. I’d be lost without him and that dawned on me when he went back to school and he was gone all day.
“When he leaves home I’ll rattle around in this big house and so I’ll probably downsize.”
For a long time she admits that her career consumed her.
After studying at Rada she worked as a jobbing actress for years before turning to scriptwriting and creating the series Widows for Thames TV in 1983.
It was a smash hit and considered ahead of its time with four female leads. In 2018, Steve Mcqueen turned it into a Hollywood movie. Lynda says she is a workaholic and an insomniac who is often awake at night dreaming up plotlines.
She says her new book Judas Horse was inspired by real-life serial burglar The Wimbledon Prowler, eventually caught by a supergrass and jailed in 2019 after a decade-long spree.
She explains: “When I was in Colorado staying at a friend’s ranch they were telling me about a Judas Horse.
“When the wild mustangs are running free you corral the lead mustang and train it.
“When he’s ready, you release him and he’ll bring the whole herd back into the corral – like Judas betraying them. So in my book, Jack Warr has got to find the Judas Horse in a trail of robberies in the Cotswolds.”
She smiles: “Every time a new book comes out it generates this energy and I think, ‘Is it going to be liked? Will it be well reviewed?’ It’s very exciting. This is why I encourage young writers so much.
“But it’s not for everyone. I live in this strange world, all on my own, talking to myself.”
Judas Horse, which is out on Thursday, continues her Detective Jackwarr series.
The first in the series, Buried, was published at the start of the pandemic and became a bestseller. Yet Prime Suspect still holds a special place in her heart.
The author will make a number of appearances at major events throughout the year for the 30th anniversary.
Lynda says: “Helen took the role and enhanced it. I’d love to write a final episode for her.we have talked about it.”
But for the first time the writer admits the chances of the one-off drama are slim after a rift with ITV in 2017 over the prequel, Prime Suspect 1973.
It was only loosely based on her book Tennison, but Lynda walked away from the project when she felt they were trying to change it too much.
She reveals: “I’ve had quite a breakdown with ITV and they own the rights to Prime Suspect.
“What happened to me with the Tennison series was abysmal and it broke me for a while.
“But I’m still in touch with Helen. If she’s in London for a function I will see her. She’s wonderful, an iconic Dame.”
T‘I haven’t given up on love...but I’m very happy being single too’
HE seventh book in the Tennison series, Unholy Murder, is out in August. The books have traced the hardened detective back to when she was in her 20s, “because I wanted readers to see her grow, from station to station, from crime to crime, observing the damage her career does to her. You get to understand what a high ranking policewoman has to cope with.
“Women get more pressure, particularly if they’re trying to have a family life as well.”
Married to musician Richard La Plante for 17 years, until they divorced in 1996, she says: “The only good thing he gave me was his name. He wanted it back but I wouldn’t give it to him.
“I was seeing a banker in New York for a while who was quite a bit younger than me, but we had nothing in common and we broke up about four years ago.”
And currently there is no romantic partner. “It would be wonderful to meet someone but I’m very happy being single too.
“I haven’t given up on love but I don’t think anyone would have the patience to be with me because I’m a workaholic.
“I actually don’t think there’s room in my life.”