We’ve loved Sally Lindsay ever since her Corrie days when she played Rovers’ Return barmaid, Shelley Unwin. She’s since starred in a huge variety of shows including Scott and Bailey, Mount Pleasant and Still Open All Hours and more recently the fascinating fly-on-the-wall documentary series Sally Lindsay’s Posh Sleepovers. Now she’s about to return to our screens in the Channel Five series The Madame Blanc Mysteries, playing the title role.
But her involvement in this brand-new show, set in the south of France, goes way beyond acting. Sally also devised, co-wrote and co-produced it. That’s some extraordinary multitasking!
“I really have put my heart and soul into The Madame Blanc Mysteries,” she tells us. “It is a very, very big thing for me. Yes, it’s been stressful at times – especially with all the delays and restrictions due to Covid – but I’ve so enjoyed it. It’s been absolutely fab. I’ve always wanted to create and write a returning drama with a murder mystery element to it. A watchable, family-friendly, Death in Paradise kind of thing with strong, warm characters and a lovely sunny setting.”
Sally tells how the show was inspired by a lady she met on holiday in the south of France a few years ago.
“She was an antiques dealer who made regular buying trips to the area to take items back to her shop in London. These picturesque villages in the south of France are a kind of hub for antiques with buyers coming from all over Europe. I thought it would be a great place to set a murder mystery. I came up with the concept and pitched it to Channel Five, who said yes! Initially, we were going to find some scriptwriters but then I thought, ‘Why don’t me and my writing partner Sue Vincent have a crack at it?’
“My character, Jean White, is a renowned and admired antiques dealer who runs a successful business with her husband, Rory, but she’s constantly visiting the fictional village of St Victoire in the south of France.”
We first meet Jean as she discovers that her husband Rory has died on his way home from their vintage treasure-trove retreat in the south of France. Heartbroken, Jean then makes the dark discovery that all of their money has disappeared, their shop has been re-mortgaged and their assets pawned off. With the dwindling remainder in their joint account eventually spent on Rory’s funeral, Jean finds her life turned upside down.
“Malta doubled for the south of France,” laughs Sally. “That was a bit touch and go what with the Covid restrictions and the fact that it’s a different culture with a different way of doing things. Some mornings I’d wake up and have no idea how the day would pan out, but we got there.”
Sally says she wouldn’t have been able to go anywhere without the constant love and support of her husband, musician Steve White.
“We have 11-year-old twin boys, Vic and Louie, and it’s thanks to Steve being so supportive, so selfless and such a great dad that I’m able to follow my dreams, work-wise. We co-parent – 50 per cent each!”
Steve also wrote all the music for The Madame Blanc Mysteries. “He wrote the theme tune for Cold Call – a mini-series I did a few years ago – but had never written a full score for a TV show before,” Sally explains. “He loved it! It brought a new dimension to our marriage, too. Out of the blue I’d say, ‘Remember that Barbra Streisand track I liked when we were on holiday?’ That’s what I want some of the music to sound like!’ It was great!”
Sally (48) is currently filming the next series of Posh Sleepover, where she spends a weekend with wealthy people, and is hoping that The Madame Blanc Mysteries proves popular and is commissioned for a second series. Work aside, she is also President of the Women of the Year Luncheon and Awards Ceremony, and is totally committed to inspiring, celebrating and promoting female role models across all areas of society and the business community,
“I’m all about us girls. This year, we’re celebrating the women of the NHS and what they’ve done for us all. The last two ceremonies have had to be cancelled due to the pandemic but, fingers crossed, we’re all set for April 2022.”
The Madame Blanc Mysteries starts October 16 at 9pm on Channel 5