:00:00. > :00:11.to describe her work as "situation tragedy".
:00:12. > :00:18.I started writing for radio. And that was about 15 years ago. And
:00:19. > :00:24.then I wrote for magazines, newspapers. And 11 years ago for
:00:25. > :00:31.television. It was a question of sending a script in, announcing my
:00:32. > :00:34.genius and thinking nobody would take any notice, and then having to
:00:35. > :00:39.try to prove something. Carla Lane was a housewife from Liverpool who
:00:40. > :00:43.became one of the country's most successful sitcom writers. From flat
:00:44. > :00:48.sharing singletons to board housewives and formidable mothers,
:00:49. > :00:56.she redefined the role of women on television. And for 25 years she was
:00:57. > :01:04.at the forefront of British comedy. Well go on, Adam, help it. It was
:01:05. > :01:07.unusual to have to work with somebody who was so extremely
:01:08. > :01:11.successful, and part of that period of writing when most of the writers
:01:12. > :01:17.that were that successful at that point were meant. The conviction
:01:18. > :01:22.with which she wrote her characters was, I think, about what was in
:01:23. > :01:26.hair. Everything that was in her, everything that she wanted to say,
:01:27. > :01:32.all the things that she felt about being a woman was in her writing.
:01:33. > :01:37.Inside she had a lot of turmoil, she had a lot of sadness, she had quite
:01:38. > :01:38.a bit of sadness in her life. And that's what she drew on when she
:01:39. > :01:53.wrote. Carla Lane became famous in the
:01:54. > :02:01.early 70s with the Liver Birds. A comedy about two young women sharing
:02:02. > :02:05.a flat in her hometown of Liverpool. Carla's was a fresh voice in the
:02:06. > :02:10.male dominated world of television. Putting female characters at the
:02:11. > :02:23.centre of comedy for the first time. Are you ready? Yes. Right. Get a
:02:24. > :02:26.load of this. The wedding ensemble. The Liver Birds ran for more than
:02:27. > :02:31.ten years and launched the careers of some of the country's best young
:02:32. > :02:36.actresses. I think what made Carla quite special was that she wrote
:02:37. > :02:43.from in her heart. She actually spoke to you through her characters.
:02:44. > :02:48.What was great about it was that we were the first two girls to play the
:02:49. > :02:55.leading part. Women up to then had been wise and lovers and friends,
:02:56. > :03:04.but never to girls actually talking to each other and being the stars of
:03:05. > :03:09.the show. It was a one-off, really. People often talk about the Liver
:03:10. > :03:13.Birds as though they were two, it was a huge feminist series. We
:03:14. > :03:19.didn't feel that at the time. And I still don't. I think it was just
:03:20. > :03:25.simply of its time. Did you fix the food, Beryl? What food? I did all
:03:26. > :03:30.the packing, I arranged the removal van, and doing all the young packing
:03:31. > :03:34.now, I've got 1001 things to think of, gas, electricity, heating, all
:03:35. > :03:41.you had to do was prepare a snack. We were not burdened down by
:03:42. > :03:47.political correctness. We did not have to watch every single thing
:03:48. > :03:50.that we said. Now we had guidelines. I remember there being lots of
:03:51. > :04:01.discussion as to whether we could mention the subject of possibly
:04:02. > :04:03.going to... With a man. And I remember it being firmly decided
:04:04. > :04:11.that you couldn't talk about possibly going to... With a man, not
:04:12. > :04:17.at all. It could be implied. And of course Carla was very good at
:04:18. > :04:20.getting the fun out of that. So she was bound in, possibly, in many
:04:21. > :04:26.ways, but she liked that. She liked the kind of playfulness between men
:04:27. > :04:31.and women. And do you know what? She was a married woman, she had growing
:04:32. > :04:37.up children, perhaps she was writing her girl that, the one she never
:04:38. > :04:43.lived, I don't know. Carla married Eric Collins, a naval architect,
:04:44. > :04:47.when she was 19. They had two sons, Nigel and Powell. But theirs would
:04:48. > :04:50.not be a conventional family life. From the beginning it was pretty
:04:51. > :04:56.observable, at least to me as a young man, ma'am, you know, I'd
:04:57. > :05:01.always dread her picking me up from school because she just didn't look
:05:02. > :05:04.like anybody else. I really wanted a mum wearing a Mac and a headscarf.
:05:05. > :05:16.With rollers in, you know. But she'd arrived with stilettos and a tight
:05:17. > :05:19.skirt and her hair done up in a bun with a Spanish co-or something, and
:05:20. > :05:26.be waving to me as I would be coming out of school. And all the other
:05:27. > :05:33.mums would be there. I just thought, why have I got a mum like that? And
:05:34. > :05:37.of course I'd get the Mickey taken out of me by all my school friends
:05:38. > :05:42.about my mum, and the things that they'd say about her, and I hated
:05:43. > :05:46.it. But I realise that there was something different right from the
:05:47. > :05:51.beginning. She would write poetry. She often would recite the things
:05:52. > :05:56.that she had in her mind over the kitchen table while we were having a
:05:57. > :06:03.cup of tea, piece of cake, and she'd ask me what I thought about it. I
:06:04. > :06:06.won competition. I remember we had the Lady Mayoress coming to the
:06:07. > :06:09.school, and everybody had to contribute something, and I locked
:06:10. > :06:14.myself in the cloakroom and wrote a little poem. And it was really
:06:15. > :06:17.tragic. It was called do not despair. And it was really to my
:06:18. > :06:23.grandmother, whose son had been killed. And I pinned it in the
:06:24. > :06:28.corner of the board, only because I knew I'd get into trouble if I
:06:29. > :06:32.hadn't put something in. I couldn't believe it, I won the half crown. I
:06:33. > :06:42.think it was then that I felt maybe I was going to write. I'd be about
:06:43. > :06:48.13. She of course had poetry in her intrinsically, that was just what
:06:49. > :06:53.she had in her. She would be watching all the time for the rhythm
:06:54. > :06:57.of lines. Something I myself am quite passionate about, the poetic
:06:58. > :07:01.rhythm of things. And I will know myself, so I know that she was
:07:02. > :07:07.watching for a line that had too many words in it, or a line that
:07:08. > :07:11.didn't have enough, quite. And she would know that that would be the
:07:12. > :07:16.process to get that line absolutely right so that you'd get a laugh, or
:07:17. > :07:22.that it would be the right feed for another line. He asked me if I was
:07:23. > :07:25.getting enough sleep, I said I didn't know, I hadn't been able to
:07:26. > :07:31.keep awake long enough to find out. Then he asked me how my love life
:07:32. > :07:34.was going. What did you say? I said it wasn't going, it had gone. What
:07:35. > :07:39.did the doctors say to that with blue he ranted on about romance
:07:40. > :07:43.being exciting little parcels of life and sometimes when we open then
:07:44. > :07:48.we have to be prepared for disappointment. He's quite right,
:07:49. > :07:52.there, Beryl. Well all my little parcels get clobbered in the post.
:07:53. > :07:59.She had a knife of the whole thing. Of course as it grew that bit was
:08:00. > :08:05.her world, she was creating that world -- she had and I for the whole
:08:06. > :08:12.thing. # As soft and gentle as a side. By
:08:13. > :08:16.the late 70s Carla was spending most of her time away from her family in
:08:17. > :08:21.Liverpool, writing at BBC Television Centre to produce her most timeless
:08:22. > :08:27.work. Butterflies drew from her own experience. It told the story of
:08:28. > :08:34.Ria, disenchanted middle-aged housewife dreaming of a different
:08:35. > :08:38.life. The time I did Butterflies Carla was kind of at the height of
:08:39. > :08:41.her powers, really. She was the toast of the BBC, they wanted to
:08:42. > :08:51.keep hold of her because she was hugely successful. She was aware of
:08:52. > :08:56.her success. And she was aware of, I think, how attractive she was. She
:08:57. > :09:03.was a very, very attractive woman. She didn't flaunt it but you could
:09:04. > :09:08.see her poise and how she behaved. I visualise her wafting about.
:09:09. > :09:15.Throwing her head back and bit. She was very charming. Personality was
:09:16. > :09:22.very attractive and she was physically a very attractive woman.
:09:23. > :09:27.Of all the things I've written Ria is more me than anyone, she does
:09:28. > :09:30.have two children, she does hate the kitchen, she did fall in love with
:09:31. > :09:35.someone else, it's true. And obviously we all do that at some
:09:36. > :09:40.time or other. Being married doesn't stop us from being flirted with. And
:09:41. > :09:45.this is how it began. I thought that I'd write about the lady who was
:09:46. > :09:49.flirted with. And it was all going to stem from there. It wasn't going
:09:50. > :09:53.to be a serious as it turned out to be because she did very much fallen
:09:54. > :09:57.in love with him and he certainly fell in love with her. I thought I'd
:09:58. > :10:02.write a comedy about how an attractive woman copes with these
:10:03. > :10:08.little offers that come when in fact she is married. I'll always remember
:10:09. > :10:14.today. You won't have to remember it, we'll do it all over again on my
:10:15. > :10:19.birthday. Funny isn't it, how old-fashioned we are? I watched the
:10:20. > :10:26.boys being free, doing everything, breaking all the rules, stuffing
:10:27. > :10:34.themselves with life. Sleeping here, sleeping there, no hang-ups, no
:10:35. > :10:40.guilt. We were born too early, you and I. Not me. If I had my way we'd
:10:41. > :10:49.go straight back to that hotel. Come back to the hotel. I remember at the
:10:50. > :10:54.read-through before we started rehearsing, halfway through, Wendy
:10:55. > :10:59.Craig said suddenly, she said, I think this woman is appalling, I
:11:00. > :11:04.don't know how I can play her, she spoilt, privileged, she's got a
:11:05. > :11:07.reasonable husband, wonderful standard of living, and all she does
:11:08. > :11:14.is whinge about what else there could be. So Carla explained that
:11:15. > :11:17.she thought it would work. Of course as soon as the first episode was
:11:18. > :11:23.played in front of an audience, Wendy knew that her doubts were
:11:24. > :11:36.absolutely of no concern and Carla was right. Ria was 95% Carla. So
:11:37. > :11:41.Wendy's realisation of the character was joy to Carla, I think. She could
:11:42. > :11:50.think, I'm getting those laughs, not only as a writer, but as me. They
:11:51. > :11:54.were great friends. Ria! I made less noise than that when I was in
:11:55. > :12:05.labour! Would you explain this to me? What. This, this stuff on my
:12:06. > :12:08.plate. It's your dinner. I know it's my dinner but could you identify the
:12:09. > :12:16.various heaps. Those are potatoes and that's a chop. I forget what
:12:17. > :12:22.those green things are. She appeared to comply with the norms of young
:12:23. > :12:26.married life, it didn't last very long, though. She couldn't cook, she
:12:27. > :12:32.couldn't clean, she could undo the garden, they were not her thing. She
:12:33. > :12:38.looked after my dad. She listened to him and talked, and she did
:12:39. > :12:42.everything else. But domestic issues, they weren't on the cards
:12:43. > :12:47.for her. She very quickly realised that that just wasn't the way
:12:48. > :12:53.forward for her. She went on another track. I think she identified very,
:12:54. > :12:59.very much with the feminine side of society, and the world, as she saw
:13:00. > :13:05.it. And underneath that was a very, very strong woman. But she didn't
:13:06. > :13:08.think that you had to appear to be strong, to be strong, or to appear
:13:09. > :13:13.to be an intellectual to have a good mind. And I think that was also part
:13:14. > :13:18.of what was happening at the time in the 70s. We were understanding as
:13:19. > :13:23.where we've got to now is that you can wear very high stiletto heels
:13:24. > :13:31.and actually still be quite powerful. What do you want? Tell me
:13:32. > :13:39.and I'll get it for you. I want... I want exciting, mind staring,
:13:40. > :13:44.unpredictable things. I want a fire engine to rush through the flat. I
:13:45. > :13:49.want a helicopter to land on my bed. I wonder phone to ring and got to be
:13:50. > :13:54.on the other end. I was now alone, I was divorced, and apart from my
:13:55. > :14:05.wolfhound, my sons were grown, and I was alone. Hence we had Solo. Solo
:14:06. > :14:08.was about Gemma who just wanted to try to be alone and how difficult it
:14:09. > :14:13.is because even though you are surrounded by all the things you
:14:14. > :14:17.want, there comes a moment when you think, I've got the band, where's
:14:18. > :14:23.the music? That's all I was writing about. Everything I was writing
:14:24. > :14:31.about can be said in a sentence. And that's all that was about. Her quote
:14:32. > :14:35.about Solo and Gemma, I've got the band but where's the music? That is
:14:36. > :14:42.a cry for women down the ages, it is. And it's a lot to do with fairy
:14:43. > :14:50.prince, I'm a princess, and suddenly real life kicks in. She wrote about
:14:51. > :14:56.these things that were serious, and apparently quite light. But
:14:57. > :15:04.underneath was a layer of pain and understanding. Is that all you think
:15:05. > :15:07.about, climbing the mountain, hitting the sky, are we going into
:15:08. > :15:13.the Olympics or something? Isn't that what women want, to be wanted?
:15:14. > :15:19.That's how it comes over. Well yes, but one once other things, too. You
:15:20. > :15:25.mean love? I asked you to marry me. Money? I asked you to stop working.
:15:26. > :15:28.Loyalty? There is no one else. So what the hell more? Well, a woman
:15:29. > :15:38.needs... Magic. Playing those parts was important to
:15:39. > :15:42.me and I still remember it is not just as a comedy series but
:15:43. > :15:47.something that was very real and reflected in a comic way, what a lot
:15:48. > :15:51.of women were going through. Especially during that period when
:15:52. > :15:55.it wasn't an unspoken love so much, we were still in a time when you
:15:56. > :16:01.were supposed to get married and have children. I think what comes
:16:02. > :16:06.across, especially that period, is not a strident feminist voice, but
:16:07. > :16:14.somebody who really loves people, loves swimming, understands women,
:16:15. > :16:19.understands pain and life, and her view of things was much more that
:16:20. > :16:23.everything is bound together, and that if you are mistress or someone
:16:24. > :16:31.wanting to go solo, you were still the same. We are still women going
:16:32. > :16:35.through... You know, if you are wife or are mistress, you are still going
:16:36. > :16:41.through the same stuff. She wanted to share what she felt and bring
:16:42. > :16:47.everyone together. There is probably no greater way of doing that than
:16:48. > :16:56.getting people to laugh. With The Liver Birds, Butterflies and Solo,
:16:57. > :17:03.her reputation as a writer was sealed. Her response was to write
:17:04. > :17:11.The Last Song, the story of a man involved in a disintegrating
:17:12. > :17:18.marriage. Carla is essentially thought of as a writer about women,
:17:19. > :17:26.which she did brilliantly, but my own experience, I thought she wrote
:17:27. > :17:34.my character also very brilliantly, and I suppose, dare I say, I think
:17:35. > :17:39.she wrote The Last Song for me, so she had moved considerably to write
:17:40. > :17:48.for a man very perceptively. It was a kind of gritty, very funny but
:17:49. > :17:54.very bitter and true relationship, as Carla thought she had progressed
:17:55. > :18:02.I think, and she called a situation tragedy. She had just discarded the
:18:03. > :18:11.broad comedy of Butterflies with the gooey puddings, and I think was a
:18:12. > :18:16.superior writer. Did you... Did you want the house
:18:17. > :18:20.keys? How many times have we been over this business of the house
:18:21. > :18:29.keys, you give them to me, I give them back to you. Well, do you?
:18:30. > :18:35.Thank you. Asks Jane to come and see me tomorrow, I don't want to be
:18:36. > :18:41.disturbed tonight. I understand, yes. And perhaps you would ring in
:18:42. > :18:53.future, just to make sure I'm in. Of course. I may go away somewhere,
:18:54. > :18:56.abroad. Not that it concerns you, but I thought I would tell you. Have
:18:57. > :19:12.a nice time. I think Carla, like a lot who work
:19:13. > :19:17.in comedy, are rather upset that they think it is a lesser field,
:19:18. > :19:21.people who try to get laughs, it is not high tragedy, it is not Hamlet.
:19:22. > :19:26.One of the most difficult things to do on God 's earth that I have ever
:19:27. > :19:31.done this play a situation comedy where you know the writer, the
:19:32. > :19:36.director, you and the rest of the cast expect you to get a laugh on
:19:37. > :19:41.this line, which you do once in front of a studio audience, then it
:19:42. > :19:47.will be seen by millions. If you don't get it right, Babyface, that's
:19:48. > :19:52.your only chance. If you think there is a laugh in Hamlet and you don't
:19:53. > :19:58.get it, nobody is going to notice. You just play the drama, which is
:19:59. > :20:01.pretty easy and pretty intense, you know.
:20:02. > :20:09.I see she still doesn't iron your shirts properly. There is such a
:20:10. > :20:17.thing as to properly, Alice. Like me? Yes, this house is more aseptic
:20:18. > :20:21.than the theatre I operate in. You use to descend on the dishes while
:20:22. > :20:25.we were still eating from them, unfinished puddings whisked away in
:20:26. > :20:37.their prime, it was like living with a magpie. I'm sorry. It's all right.
:20:38. > :20:42.I know she talked about writing a stage play for me which never
:20:43. > :20:48.happened, which was going to be a play, not comedy, it never happened.
:20:49. > :20:54.I think there was a hankering there for more serious recognition in a
:20:55. > :20:59.way. The shift in Carla's writing reflected a more serious tone in her
:21:00. > :21:06.wider life. The childhood passion for nature was now blossoming into a
:21:07. > :21:10.more public role as an activist. Carla found a kindred spirit in her
:21:11. > :21:11.love of animals when she formed a close friendship with Linda
:21:12. > :21:27.McCartney. Mum and Linda were very good
:21:28. > :21:32.friends, they were best friends. They would talk to each other on the
:21:33. > :21:38.phone on a regular, if not daily basis. Both vegetarians, lifelong
:21:39. > :21:43.vegetarians, and they loved their animals. They never stopped talking
:21:44. > :21:50.about them, and the work they can and did do to support the welfare of
:21:51. > :21:59.animals. I'm so proud of you. Mum did it through Animal Line, which
:22:00. > :22:04.was a charity, and her animal sanctuary. And Linda supported all
:22:05. > :22:08.that work and did whatever she was called to do really. They wrote and
:22:09. > :22:29.sang together. In 1985, Carla pushed her writing
:22:30. > :22:32.even further towards drama with I Woke Up One Morning, the story of
:22:33. > :22:40.alcoholics who meet while undergoing therapy. Take it easy. I have done
:22:41. > :22:47.the deed, said the word, she is waiting now for respectability. We
:22:48. > :22:52.have all been caught in the trap, life is like a minefield, an awesome
:22:53. > :22:59.space dotted about with women. It is impossible to get from the cradle to
:23:00. > :23:06.the coughing -- coffin without treading on one of them.
:23:07. > :23:12.It wasn't well received, and many thought Carla had lost her touch.
:23:13. > :23:16.Throughout her life, Carla was compelled to write. Every time she
:23:17. > :23:21.picked up the pen, she couldn't wait to see what came out. Her response
:23:22. > :23:24.to the criticism was to go back to her hometown and write about what
:23:25. > :23:33.she knew best, the people of Liverpool. My childhood in Liverpool
:23:34. > :23:43.was streets, the sound of the big ships, the Scouse accent, the sheer
:23:44. > :23:45.magic of Liverpool. Within a year, Carla had written the most
:23:46. > :23:57.successful comedy of her career. Read became her biggest hit with
:23:58. > :24:08.nearly half the nation tuning in to watch the escapades of the Boswell
:24:09. > :24:13.family. -- Bread. Won't be long now. Must she always be filing her nails?
:24:14. > :24:23.She spends her whole life doing herself up. I'm a model, aren't I?
:24:24. > :24:29.If it's not that, it's shaving legs, dabbing spots, nothing is allowed to
:24:30. > :24:33.grow on her! When you got the call to say Carla Lane has written a new
:24:34. > :24:38.series and you are going to audition for it, it was as big a deal as it
:24:39. > :24:43.got. I walked in with this blonde hair and obviously did something
:24:44. > :24:48.that she saw that had essences. She worked very much with the essence of
:24:49. > :24:53.people, what is the essence of that person, what makes them tick, what
:24:54. > :24:58.makes them go that extra mile, what are their weaknesses and strengths.
:24:59. > :25:04.Even Joey, who was the protector of the family and the most confident
:25:05. > :25:09.and the most assured member of the family, he had his Achilles heel
:25:10. > :25:13.too. She gave everybody things they had to deal with, things they
:25:14. > :25:21.couldn't quite reach out and grab. Why don't we talk about life instead
:25:22. > :25:27.of nightmares, why don't we dream? One day, I'm going to go into an
:25:28. > :25:31.attic and in the corner there will be a Leonardo, a pale maiden with
:25:32. > :25:37.hands clasped and an enigmatic smile. I thought somebody had
:25:38. > :25:40.already found that one. I will say, that's a nice little print, I will
:25:41. > :25:46.give you a tenner to take it off your hands, then off I will be to
:25:47. > :25:51.Sotheby's, Christie 's and the Bahamas. I'm going to open my own
:25:52. > :25:57.business in London. Why London, they are all show-offs. They are all
:25:58. > :26:05.funny down Saddam's, they have a bath every day. We haven't heard
:26:06. > :26:12.what our Joey dreams about yet. I dream about keeping the art of
:26:13. > :26:16.dreaming. Isn't he deep! I think she allowed drama to have a place at the
:26:17. > :26:22.comedy table and vice versa and I think that has helped shows like The
:26:23. > :26:26.Office and some single camera comedies we see now where the
:26:27. > :26:33.writers don't feel the need to be funny all the time. We are just
:26:34. > :26:40.human, we make mistakes and mess up, humans are oddballs, and Carla just
:26:41. > :26:48.wrote about that. This is Mrs Boswell, I would like to know why my
:26:49. > :26:53.gas bill is ?206, it's ridiculous. Are you sure I'm not connected up to
:26:54. > :26:59.the Olympic torch? I would like a detailed account please, in English,
:27:00. > :27:02.not abbreviations. Any good writers see the world through their own
:27:03. > :27:09.unique perspective, through their own particular glasses that they
:27:10. > :27:14.wear, and Carla had unique and individual classes. They weren't
:27:15. > :27:18.Rosie or dark, they were multifaceted and she wrote down what
:27:19. > :27:22.she saw. Good writers have got to write, there is nothing they can do
:27:23. > :27:28.about it, and she had to get these people out, their lives and troubles
:27:29. > :27:37.and sort them out. She felt duty bound to sort Ria, out, Joey out,
:27:38. > :27:44.and the girls from The Liver Birds. Her legacy now is that she got us
:27:45. > :27:48.involved with people, she got us to care about them. All I can say is
:27:49. > :27:58.that it was very rare that I had to do a scene or speak any lines that
:27:59. > :28:03.didn't ring true. She had this ability to be actually quite
:28:04. > :28:08.impressive in her writing, in that I think it was mirror imaging
:28:09. > :28:13.something that was going on in society very, very accurately. Carla
:28:14. > :28:21.was a very big presence always in my life because that series... You
:28:22. > :28:30.know, I had 42 years in theatre and none of it had the impact that The
:28:31. > :28:37.Liver Birds had. I always remember her with huge affection and may I
:28:38. > :28:40.say gratitude because Butterflies was a very important show in my
:28:41. > :28:44.so-called career. Thank you, Carla.