麻豆社

Carla Lane

Carla Lane

Do you still consider Merseyside your home?

Oh gosh, yes. It鈥檚 only because of what I do that I鈥檓 not there. It鈥檚 not just writing, it鈥檚 the animal sanctuary. I can hardly get away. Liverpool is my very favourite place. I love Liverpool and scousers. I think they probably felt I deserted them, but you know, your career takes you to weird places.

Has that been said to you before? 鈥淐arla Lane writes about Liverpool but doesn鈥檛 live here..鈥�

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Nobody has ever upset me by telling that to me, but I would guess that鈥檚 the feeling. But, the reason I wrote Bread was because of Liverpool, and also The Liver Birds. Out of the three major things I鈥檝e done, two of them have been Liverpool. I have tried to prove my feeling toward it by doing that.

So what sparked off the writing of your autobiography?

Mainly because the 麻豆社 is not doing the kind of comedy that I write anymore. We have reality now and there鈥檚 no room for my kind of comedy. I need to write and to work, and so someone put to me that I ought to write a book. A publisher phoned me finally and I thought 鈥榬ight, do it!鈥� I鈥檓 glad I did, I enjoyed doing it and I hope people like reading it.

Why do you think the 麻豆社 aren鈥檛 doing what you do anymore?

I don鈥檛 think they鈥檙e in touch with their audience, frankly. I get lovely letters about the comedy programmes that were on in those days. Dad鈥檚 Army, the lovely characters in that. It was moving as well as funny. I think people just sit back and take what they鈥檙e given, don鈥檛 they?

It can鈥檛 be a lack of writers though, surely?

No, I would think there鈥檚 plenty of them around, but the point is, people just think 鈥榦h well, we don鈥檛 get that anymore.鈥� They don鈥檛 seem to make a fuss about it. It鈥檚 reality that鈥檚 taken over and frankly, I can鈥檛 bear that.

Let鈥檚 take you back to your early days, you were a convent girl weren鈥檛 you?

Yes. I wasn鈥檛 a good scholar and I left school quite early. I had taken to writing poetry and I was beginning to feel that words were the things that were going to take me further ahead. I started Liver Birds with a friend who couldn鈥檛 carry on. I was left jittering in a little bedsit in Paddington thinking 鈥榳hat am I going to do?鈥�

In the book you talk about being a young mum. You would put the kids to bed and you would get your pen out and start writing. That must have been quite hard.

The Liver Birds

Yes. I would do other things too. I used to go nursing three times a week as well. In those days kids went to bed a 6 o鈥檆lock, so I used to write then. The Liver Birds happened sort of strangely, really. There was over 100 done in the end. It just became easy.

What was is like to see your name as writer for the first time on 麻豆社 1?

It was exhilarating, but it鈥檚 quite frightening too as it carries with it the burden of having to keep it up. I never really boasted about my name on the screen or jumped up and down for joy. I just had this inner satisfaction that what I was doing was right and that I could do it. As a child at school I was hopeless. The best they could say about me was that I had a sense of humour.

What do you think of the new Liverpool that is forging ahead?

I was there not long ago being interviewed at the top of the Liver Buildings and looking down. What a beautiful city it鈥檚 become. It was shining, it looked like a jewel.

When you talk about the break up of your marriage in your book, people will think of Rhea in Butterflies. Was it similar to that?

Yes, I went to the 麻豆社 and I said I want to write about a woman who is married and in love with someone else. I want to write about the problem. 'Can鈥檛 do that darling, not as comedy' they said. 'Write it as a drama'. I said 'I don鈥檛 want to.' So I went back to my home and wrote the first script. I sent it to them and 24 hours later a motorbike drew up outside to deliver a note that said 鈥榳ho am I to argue with a butterfly? 6 more please immediately.鈥� So that was nice. I enjoyed so much doing it.

What was it like being a woman in that business?

It was strange, there was no other woman writing comedy. It was odd, I did feel on my own. The old days of the 麻豆社 were lovely though. The corridors were alive. The head of comedy was always available.

You make it sound like Grace Bros.

(laughs). Yes, I met so many tremendously clever, famous people. I remember seeing Sir John Gielgud and saying 鈥榳hat do you do?鈥� He said 鈥業 act a little鈥�. I鈥檝e often thought back and thought 鈥榦h, what cheek鈥�.

Bread was an incredible success but it stuttered at the beginning didn鈥檛 it because of critics?

The Boswell family in Bread.

Yes, terribly. Liverpool was angry with me.

Liverpool was angry was because of the stereotype.听 It was the mid-80鈥檚 and there were problems in the city. Talk us through what happened..

The thing they hated most was that they were going to the dole office to claim money. They said I made it look like everyone in Liverpool was doing that. Of course, that was not my intent, of course it wasn鈥檛. I wanted to write a really funny story about a wonderful family and show the togetherness of how they stuck together like mad. It went very wrong in the beginning and I had to work very hard to win Liverpool鈥檚 heart over that.

I found it the easiest thing in the world to write. I couldn鈥檛 sleep because the dialogue was going on in my head. We went to Rome and did a Christmas show there. They were happy days. We were so lucky with the cast. There was a lot of drama in it.

I saw a young man walking down the street. He was tall and blonde and wearing leather. He had dignity and I thought 鈥業鈥檓 going to write about you. Your name鈥檚 Joey now what else..鈥� Bit by bit I gave him a family. That was the birth of Bread.

I often think, that young man will never know he was the cause of it.

Carla it鈥檚 been a pleasure to talk to you. Put pen to paper again because we鈥檇 love to see some of your screenplays on television again.

I will. Thank you.