Sally turns to life of crime
Since bursting on to the scene in 2001 as Corrie barmaid Shelley Unwin, actress Sally Lindsay hasn’t stopped.
She’s starred in primetime dramas, hosted a quiz show, appeared in sitcoms, been a panellist on Loose Women and now, at the age of 48, she has added another string to her bow by creating and co-writing a new murder mystery series.
In the six-part series, she plays Jean White, a woman who runs an antiques business in Cheshire and has a dream life until her husband suddenly dies.
She then discovers there is no money left in their account and when she flies to France to sell off the last asset, a cottage, she discovers that husband Rory had another woman and he may have been murdered. So Jean sets off, with help from the locals, to solve the crime. Here, Sally tells us all about her latest venture…
What made you try writing for the first time?
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. I came up with the idea after going on holiday to Majorca five years ago. I met a woman there who is a brilliantly knowledgeable antiques dealer and she told me about these villages in the South of France that are antiques hubs for the rest of Europe. What’s fashionable in one country is tat in another.
Do you know anything about the antiques business?
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.
We loved Madame Blanc’s choice of clothes…
So did I and I never like the clothes I wear for TV dramas.
Did you feel under pressure producing the series?
After I had the twins [in 2010], I realised everything else was a bonus. I decided it didn’t really matter if nobody liked me or my ideas in a meeting. I’ve been on so many TV sets, why would somebody straight from Cambridge know any more than me?
Did you film the show in France?
No, we filmed it in a place called Gozo in Malta. It looks like the South of France, it’s cheaper and there are already TV crews out there.
Were you this confident when you landed your Corrie role?
I was a bolshy 24-year-old and I talked my way into Coronation Street. I wasn’t one of those kids who’d been tap dancing since age five. I never imagined I would have the skills to do what I do now but I am still growing. I learn something new every day.