{"id":47465,"date":"2024-03-08T13:00:33","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=2005200"},"modified":"2024-03-08T13:37:11","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T12:37:11","slug":"madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay-talks-female-centric-writing-and-industry-progress","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/madame-blanc-mysteries-sally-lindsay-talks-female-centric-writing-and-industry-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Madame Blanc Mysteries\u2019 Sally Lindsay talks female-centric writing and industry progress"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we celebrate International Women’s Day, the actress tells us: “With male writers, the women are up for it all the time or their purpose will be solidified when they find their man. That’s not my bag.” <\/p>

By Laura Rutkowski\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 08 March 2024 at 12:00 PM<\/p>

\n\n

In the Channel 5 series The Madame Blanc Mysteries<\/a>, which aired its season 3 finale last month, Sally Lindsay plays Cheshire antiques dealer and amateur sleuth Jean White.<\/p>\n

She helps solve deaths in the fictional village of Sainte Victoire in the South of France with help from local taxi driver Dom Hayes (Steve Edge), chateau owners Judith and Jeremy Lloyd James (Sue Holderness and Robin Askwith) and the local Chief of Police, Major Andr\u00e9 Caron (Alex Gaumond).<\/p>\n

As well as starring in The Madame Blanc Mysteries, Lindsay writes and produces it, heavily taking inspiration from the character of Miss Marple for her cosy crime caper.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s a woman of a certain age, so people patronise her and think she\u2019s just this little old lady \u2013 that she\u2019s invisible,\u201d she tells us. \u201cThey don\u2019t for one minute think she\u2019s got this extraordinary mind and extraordinary level of deduction. That also applies to Jean.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s International Women\u2019s Day theme is \u201cInspire Inclusion\u201d, so we asked Lindsay why female representation is important and how the industry has changed since she first started.<\/p>\n

\"Sally\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
The Madame Blanc Mysteries star Sally Lindsay.<\/span><\/figcaption> Radio Times \/ Jonathan Ford @jonathanfordphoto<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

\u201cWomen are represented a little bit more on screen, and diversity with people of colour is happening, but we\u2019re quite close-minded in England about casting,\u201d she says. \u201cEverybody on my show is a friend of mine, so I would have used them anyway, but I do what I call Tube casting. If you get on the Tube, and you look right and you look left, there\u2019s people of all different colours, so I don\u2019t understand why that\u2019s not on television.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also mentions featuring gay couple Charlie Brodeur (Sanchia McCormack) and her wife Simone (Djinda Kane), who co-own the local antiques business in the series. \u201cWe\u2019ve never mentioned they\u2019re gay. We just mentioned that they\u2019re married. It gets on my nerves when people have to explain themselves \u2013 it\u2019s the least interesting thing about them.\u201d<\/p>\n

When The Madame Blanc Mysteries was released in October 2021, it became one of the most popular new shows on Channel 5, with 2.5 million viewers tuning in for each episode.<\/p>\n

\"The\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
The cast of The Madame Blanc Mysteries.<\/span><\/figcaption> Channel 5<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

The 50-year-old actor, who\u2019s from Manchester, is also best known for her roles as Shelley Unwin in ITV\u2019s soap Coronation Street<\/a>, Lisa Johnson in the Sky comedy Mount Pleasant and Kath Agnew in the BBC sitcom Still Open All Hours.<\/p>\n

It was actually while filming Still Open All Hours at Pinewood Studios that she wrote The Madame Blanc Mysteries during her down time. She explains that she had the idea after meeting a lady called Jan on holiday in Majorca about seven or eight years ago. She is a third-generation antiques dealer and a pundit for antiques shows. \u201cShe\u2019s this really normal, funny down-to-earth person with an almost Sherlockian knowledge of antiques. The idea for the series was flopping around in my head for ages after I met her,\u201d says Lindsay.<\/p>\n

\"Sally\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>
Sally Lindsay for Radio Times magazine.<\/span><\/figcaption> Radio Times \/ Jonathan Ford @jonathanfordphoto<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

She also developed the idea for ITV detective series Scott & Bailey with Suranne Jones, which aired in 2011. \u201cFemale-centric writers tell a different story,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll read a script from a bloke, and oh god\u2026 a woman spends the night and she\u2019s got the bloke\u2019s shirt on and their ass out, which never happens. Or, somebody walks in on someone having a shower, which never happens, because you lock the door. It\u2019s just a male fantasy \u2013 it\u2019s bollocks. With male writers, the women are up for it all the time or their purpose will be solidified when they find their man. That\u2019s not my bag\u2026 even though Dom and Jean did get back together.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s referring to the end of season 3 of The Madame Blanc Mysteries, which has always hinted at the characters being more than just friends. \u201cIt was just complete people pressure,\u201d she adds, \u201cbut Jean\u2019s very much in charge. It\u2019s also something that\u2019s grown properly as opposed to, \u2018Oh I need to get myself a fella.\u2019 Dom and Jean being together is not anything to do with her worth. We\u2019ve established what her worth is.\u201d<\/p>

The Madame Blanc Mysteries season 3 is available to stream on My5. <\/strong>Check out more of our\u00a0Drama<\/a>\u00a0coverage or visit our\u00a0TV Guide<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Streaming Guide<\/a>\u00a0to find out what\u2019s on.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only \u00a310 \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to\u00a0The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n

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