The star of the quirky crime series reveals five secrets from the set

Tonight, 8pm, Channel 5

1

I created and star in the series as antiques dealer and sleuth Jean White, who relocates to France after the mysterious death of her husband. I love writing stuff for myself. There is a pecking order in this country when it comes to roles. If you’re not on the list, you won’t be the first to be asked. As Michael Caine once said, ‘There were already coffee stains on my scripts.’ 2

I wrote the role of busybody Judith for Sue Holderness, who is down to earth and funny. We made Judith and her husband Jeremy [Robin Askwith] sexy and very hot at the age of 70, because

I’m obsessed with creating stuff for women of a certain age –

there’s such a lack of good roles.

3

As co-writer and producer there were times when I woke up at 4am thinking, ‘This plotline doesn’t work.’ There were also times it was pretty hairy, like when the art department in Malta – we filmed on Gozo – didn’t understand what the English art department had asked for and a prop would turn up, and it wasn’t right. We’d have four hours to go around the markets finding a replacement.

4

My husband Steve White, the former drummer with Style Council, co-wrote the music for Madame Blanc. It was brilliant, because I could say, ‘I want something that’s a bit like that song we heard on holiday that sounded like Barbra Streisand, but wasn’t,’ and he’d know what I meant.

5

Filming was the longest I’d ever been away from home, because the pandemic meant I couldn’t fly back and forth. Steve took charge of our twins, Victor and Louie [aged ten]. He’s amazing, a fantastic father.

Sally as Jean, with Steve Edge as her friend Dom