The talented Mrs White
Former Coronation Street actress Sally Lindsay celebrates a career first by creating, co-writing and starring in a new Channel 5 drama series called The Madame Blanc Mysteries
Since bursting onto the scene in 2001 as Coronation Street barmaid Shelley Unwin, actress Sally Lindsay has ticked a lot of boxes when it comes to stage and screen. She’s starred in prime-time dramas, hosted a quiz show, appeared in sitcoms, been a panellist on Loose Women and runs her own production company, Saffron Cherry Productions. Now, at the age of 48, she has added another string to her bow by creating and co-writing a new murder mystery series for Channel 5 called The Madame Blanc Mysteries, in which she plays the leading role.
The series is due to air this week, but Sally is still in a state of disbelief and declares that if it’s rubbish, she’s “opening a buttie van in Torremolinos”. If that ever happened, she’d no doubt smash it, as Sally is a person who gets things done and does them well.
When we admire her Zoom background, which is worthy of the pages of an interiors magazine, she swivels the camera round and reveals that it’s a garden shed painted in fashionable teal. “I couldn’t find a painter, so I did it myself. I’ve turned my garden shed into a Soho Ladies’ club.”
Sally, who lives in South London with her musician husband Steve and their 11-year-old twin boys, gives us the lowdown on the new show and what it’s like to finally feel confident in her talents…
Tell us a bit about the series…
I play a woman called Jean White who runs an antiques business in Cheshire. Her husband gets their stock from the South of France. One day, she gets a call to say that he has died in a crash out there and then she finds out that there is no money left in their account, their shop has been remortgaged to the hilt and their assets pawned off. All she has left is a cottage in a place called Saint Victoire. She suspects foul play and finds out there is another Mrs White out there. I’ve always loved murder mysteries like Murder She Wrote and Columbo and with this one, there is this Moriarty character in the background.
Is Jean named after you?
I am Mrs White, but I didn’t change my name when I got married. I did it as a little homage to my husband Steve, who wrote the score for the show. His band played the music too. Jean Blanc is a really cool name.
What made you try writing for the first time?
‘After I had the twins, I realised everything else was a bonus’
I’ve created TV shows before, but never co-written anything. I did it with my friend, actress Sue Vincent who was in Mount Pleasant with me. We’ve been writing together for about five years and although we have got very close, nothing of ours has ever been made. I came up with the idea after going on holiday to Majorca about five years ago. I met a woman there who is a brilliantly knowledgeable antiques dealer and she told me that she and her husband drive over to the South of France twice a month as there are these little villages that are antiques hubs for the rest of Europe. What’s fashionable in one country is tat in another.
Do you know anything about antiques?
No, but what I have done in Jean is fulfil my fantasies. I would love to be massively observant like her, with Sherlockian powers of observation. I’ll tell you how unobservant I am in real life. I went into London for a posh meeting with my favourite boots in a rubbish shopping bag. I was going to take them to the cobblers on the corner at Charing Cross, but when I went, the cobblers was actually a Pret and had been for five years. I hadn’t noticed!
We loved Madam Blanc’s clothes…
So did I and I never like the clothes I wear for TV dramas. Our wardrobe master made 60% of Jean’s outfits. The rest came from this wonderful girl who has a stall in Pimlico market called Woo Woo Boutique. She uses recycled materials and makes lovely classic designs. I’m obsessed with her clothes. Now, if someone asks me, “Where did you get that dress?” I’ll know what to say, because in 25 years, I’ve never been able to answer that question.
Did you film the show in France?
No, we filmed it in a place called Gozo in Malta. If you watch an American drama set in France, it’s always filmed there. It looks like the South of France, it’s cheaper and there are already TV crews out there.
How long were you away from your family?
I didn’t see my sons for 10 weeks. It was horrible. Steve was due to bring them over and I was really excited. I’d hired a villa and the production team helped me plan lots for them to do, but for some reason, Malta wasn’t on the green list, so they couldn’t come.
How do you juggle motherhood with work commitments?
Steve and I sleep a lot. We’re always in bed by 10pm. He works locally, so is around for the boys. Every Friday we plan the next week to decide who is going to pick whom up etc. It’s a matter of being organised really.
You created, co-wrote and produced
– did you feel under pressure?
The Madame Blanc Mysteries
After I had the twins, I realised that everything else was a bonus. I decided then that it didn’t really matter if nobody liked me or my ideas in a meeting. I have been on so many TV sets, why would somebody straight from Cambridge know any more than me?
Were you this confident at 24 when you landed your Corrie role?
I was a bolshy 24-year-old and I talked my way into
Coronation Street to be fair, but I was an actor and
I didn’t know that there were all these other aspects to the profession. I’d come straight from university. I wasn’t one of those kids who’d been tap dancing since the age of five. I never imagined I would have the skills to do what I do now, but I’m still growing. I learn something new every day.
Is it a good time to be an actress in her 40s?
It’s better than it used to be, but you know, to be fair, I have written this show myself. I still think there is a predominance of men on screen. With Madame Blanc I’ve tried to bring in different sexualities, skin tone etc. If you make it very normal, it becomes normal. However, when it comes to women and TV, we’re still not quite there yet.