Sally Lindsay: Building Worlds, One Story at a Time
There are some people who simply light up a room.
Sally Lindsay is one of them.
Warm, witty and wonderfully down to earth, she has the rare ability to make you feel as though you’ve known her for years. Within minutes of sitting down together, it felt less like interviewing one of Britain’s best-loved actresses and more like chatting over a cup of tea with an old friend.
Many people know Sally from Coronation Street, Mount Pleasant and Still Open All Hours. More recently, she has become the face of one of television’s biggest success stories, The Madame Blanc Mysteries. Part cosy crime drama, part love letter to the South of France, it has captured audiences both here and abroad.
What fascinated me wasn’t just the programme itself, but how it came to life.
How do you go from a blank sheet of paper to creating an entirely new world? Where do the ideas come from? And how on earth do you juggle being an actress, writer, producer, wife and mum all at the same time?
As it turns out, the answer begins with three completely unrelated ideas…
How do you develop a story from the initial concept? Does it come naturally, or does it evolve?
“Usually, it starts with a germ of an idea scribbled on an A4 sheet of paper.”
“Madame Blanc actually came about while I was filming Cold Call. Dan Ryan and I were standing in a freezing cold car park in Manchester talking about Escape to the Château. Dan and his wife loved it, so I watched it too. What I loved most wasn’t just the château, it was the feeling. The sunshine. The beautiful setting. It reminded me of those wonderful programmes like Pie in the Sky, Lovejoy and Boon, where you happily spend an hour with characters you’d quite like to know.”
Sally smiles as she remembers it.
“I learnt a lot filming Mount Pleasant as well. When people watched it, they wanted to spend time with those characters. They wanted a drink in the Dog and Dart, they wanted to sit in Lisa and Dan’s kitchen. That’s what I wanted to create. Somewhere viewers felt they belonged.”
She’d also been carrying another idea around with her for years.
“What if the person you loved most suddenly died and everything you thought was true wasn’t? What if your whole life turned out to be built on lies? That became Jean White.”
Then, quite by chance, another piece of the puzzle fell into place.
“Steve and I were on holiday in Majorca when we met a lovely antiques dealer called Jan. She’s actually one of the experts on Dickinson’s Real Deal. She told us how dealers regularly drive to little villages in the south of France to swap antiques because what’s fashionable in Italy isn’t fashionable in England, and vice versa. I’d never heard anything like it.”
She laughs.
“Three completely different ideas.”
“One television series.”
“That’s how Madame Blanc was born.”
How did you know you could write a murder mystery?
“I didn’t!” she laughs. “It came as a complete revelation.”
“I knew I could write drama, but I’d never written a murder mystery before.”
Before a single script could be commissioned, Sally first had to write what television writers call a treatment.
For readers who might not know, what exactly is a treatment?
“It’s basically the blueprint,” she explains. “You describe the world, the characters, where the series is going and break down each episode. It gives the commissioner a clear idea of what you’re trying to create.”
The timing couldn’t have been busier.
“I wrote the treatment over the summer while I was filming Still Open All Hours at Pinewood. Between scenes, Johnny Vegas and I would sit next to each other on a trestle table. He was writing his camping programme, and I was writing Madame Blanc.”
She smiles at the memory.
“Channel 5 loved it, but because of their business model we also needed another partner. Acorn liked the idea but wanted to see a script.”
There was just one small problem.
“I was on holiday.”
Laughing, she admits she immediately started ringing writer friends.
“I thought, ‘I don’t write murder mysteries! Someone help me!'”
Everyone was busy.
Everyone except Sue Vincent.
“Sue and I had written comedy together for years, but never anything on this scale. She didn’t even know about Madame Blanc, but she simply said yes.”
The partnership developed a way of working that still surprises people today.
“Most writing teams sit together and write every line. We don’t.”
“I plot the murder mystery and work out the family storyline. Sue then overwrites the script — and I mean really overwrites it!” she laughs.
“Then we spend about a week cutting, trimming and stitching it all back together.”
She pauses for a moment.
“It shouldn’t really work…”
“But somehow it does.”
Their formula has now become second nature.
“We’ve just finished writing another seven episodes and a Christmas special, and every series we seem to understand each other better. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve created together.”
The visual clues in Madame Blanc are so carefully placed. Are those your ideas, or do they come from the director?
“No, that’s all in the script.”
Sally’s answer comes without hesitation.
“Every single detail is written on the page.”
She credits director Dermot Boyd, who also worked with her on Mount Pleasant, as being central to bringing those ideas to life.
“Dermot asks hundreds of questions, and I love that because he wants to understand every tiny detail as much as I do.”
Whether it’s a fleeting glimpse of a hand in a car window, a cigarette, or a pair of red fingernails that later become significant, nothing is left to chance.
“Once Dermot completely understands what we’re trying to achieve, he goes away and films it beautifully.”
So you have a lot of creative control?
She laughs.
“Well… you never have complete control unless you’re paying for it!”
Then she adds, almost as an afterthought…
“But I’d say about ninety per cent of what I imagine ends up on screen.”
As executive producer, writer and lead actor, she’s also on set throughout filming.
“The buck stops with me.”
You wear so many hats – actor, writer, producer, wife and mum. How do you fit everything in?
Sally doesn’t need to think about the answer.
“I have the most amazing husband.”
It’s immediate and heartfelt.
Steve White isn’t just her biggest supporter at home; he’s woven into the fabric of The Madame Blanc Mysteries itself.
“Steve writes all the music for my shows. He composed the original score for Madame Blanc, so it’s very much a family affair. Before that he was drumming with The Style Council and Paul Weller, so although it’s very different from what he used to do, he absolutely loves writing music for television.”
When filming takes Sally abroad, Steve becomes chief organiser at home.
“He’s the main carer for our children when I’m away. He believed in Madame Blanc from the very beginning because he’s part of it. I honestly couldn’t do it without him.”
She says it matter-of-factly, but it’s obvious just how grateful she is.
Like so many working women, Sally has become an expert at juggling.
“We’re organised because we have to be.”
She laughs.
“Sometimes it all gets a bit much. Then I take a step back and remind myself… it’s only tele.”
She pauses before continuing.
“I’m not a surgeon saving lives. It’s television.”
It’s a wonderfully grounded answer from someone at the top of her profession.
“That doesn’t mean it isn’t important,” she continues. “Culture matters. Britain produces some of the best drama in the world, yet we don’t shout about it nearly enough.”
You’ve spoken passionately about creating opportunities for women and making television more representative. Was that always part of the vision?
“Absolutely.”
It’s one of the few answers she gives without a smile.
“Only fourteen per cent of writers on prime-time terrestrial television are women.”
She lets the figure hang in the air.
“It’s a disgrace.”
One of Sally’s ambitions was to prove that female-led productions could thrive.
“Channel 5 believed in us and gave us that chance, and I’m incredibly grateful for it.”
Representation on screen mattered just as much.
“I wanted Madame Blanc to feel like a modern classic. In the second series there are gay relationships and lots of diversity, but nobody talks about it.”
She shrugs.
“It’s just there.”
It’s a simple philosophy.
“That’s real life. I’ve got gay friends who are married, and honestly, it’s the least interesting thing about them.”
Madame Blanc never seems to speak much French. How’s yours these days?
Sally bursts out laughing.
“Terrible!”
“I’m getting better, but I’m still rubbish.”
Thankfully, she has help.
“My business partner Caroline has a friend who’s a French lawyer, so she checks everything and makes sure the dialogue sounds natural.”
Writing for an international audience presents its own challenges.
“Channel 5 wants it to feel as British as possible, while Acorn wants everyone around the world to understand it.”
She smiles.
“You’re constantly walking a tightrope.”
Then comes one of my favourite stories of the afternoon.
“I always remember Nick Park falling out with DreamWorks over Eccles cakes.”
She laughs again.
“They worried American audiences wouldn’t know what they were.”
Sally has never quite agreed with that way of thinking.
“I’ve never been to Walmart, but I know it’s a supermarket.”
Sometimes, she believes, audiences understand more than television executives give them credit for.
Back in 2008, you chose the Carry On films as your specialist subject on Celebrity Mastermind. Where did that love come from? Do you have a favourite?
Sally laughs.
“I absolutely love the Carry On films. They’re comforting.”
Choosing a favourite, however, is much harder.
“If I had to narrow it down, I’d say Barbara Windsor, Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques. To me, they are Carry On.”
As she talks, it becomes obvious that her admiration goes far beyond the jokes and the innuendo.
For Sally, the films represent something much deeper.
“The Carry On concept is actually very similar to what I’ve tried to create with Madame Blanc.”
She pauses for a moment, searching for exactly the right words.
“It’s a vision of an England that never really existed… but somehow we all remember it.”
It’s a wonderful way of describing nostalgia.
“The seventies weren’t idyllic. There were strikes, difficult times… and the eighties had their own problems too. Yet when we watch Carry On, we remember this warm, funny world where everyone knows everyone else.”
She smiles.
“That’s exactly what I wanted with Madame Blanc. A place full of quirky characters where everyone ends up in the pub together at the end of the day.”
She laughs again.
“Of course, nowhere like that actually exists…”
“But wouldn’t it be lovely if it did?”
Preparing for Celebrity Mastermind became something of a family project.
“Steve and I had a Carry On quiz book. We’d sit in bed and he’d fire questions at me until I knew every film inside out.”
It was while appearing on the programme that another important relationship began.
“That’s where I met Caroline, who is now my business partner. She was the executive producer back then.”
Sally shakes her head in disbelief.
“It’s funny how life works. Years later we set up Saffron Cherry, our female-led production company, together.”
Sometimes, she says, you simply never know where one opportunity will lead.
You and Suranne Jones have been close friends for years. How did that friendship begin?
“We met on the set of Coronation Street, and we’ve been best friends ever since.”
The affection in Sally’s voice is unmistakable.
“Our lives are very similar, so we completely understand each other’s world.”
Over the years, the friendship has grown into something that feels more like family.
“Her husband is one of Steve’s best friends, so our lives have become completely intertwined.”
She doesn’t hesitate when describing Suranne.
“She’s been a wonderful friend and a huge comfort to me. I absolutely adore her.”
The obvious question follows.
Will you ever work together again?
“Oh, definitely.”
She laughs.
“It’s just got to be the right project.”
The opportunity almost came much sooner.
“I was originally supposed to star alongside Suranne in Scott & Bailey, but just before filming I discovered I was pregnant with the twins.”
Life, once again, had other plans.
“I couldn’t commit to the lead role, so instead I ended up playing Suranne’s sister.”
She smiles.
“Looking back, I think everything worked out exactly as it was meant to.”
As our conversation draws to a close, I’m struck by something Sally said much earlier.
“It’s only tele.”
She laughed as she said it.
I suspect she doesn’t really believe it.
Because people who care this deeply about storytelling, about creating opportunities for others and about building worlds audiences genuinely want to spend time in, never think it’s just television.
Perhaps that’s why The Madame Blanc Mysteries has become such a success.
Yes, it’s a murder mystery.
Yes, there are clues to follow and puzzles to solve.
But beneath it all lies something much simpler.
It’s a place where you’d quite like to spend an hour.
And in a world that often feels far too busy, that’s a rather wonderful gift.