Lynda La Plante: I hope my new female forensic star makes it to the screen
'I actually love writing and I love creating,' enthuses the award-winning Liverpool-born crime writer and actress who wrote and produced the Nineties hit Prime Suspect, which starred Helen Mirren, as well as TV series Widows, Trial & Retribution and The Governor, and has penned more than 50 novels.
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Funny and eloquent, fizzing with energy, the talented octogenarian looks at least a decade younger than her years and is great company, mimicking characters with authentic accents and creating drama in every story she recounts, going off on entertaining tangents at every opportunity.
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'I've been having these chest pains,' she reveals, 'and the cardiologist said, 'Well, if they continue for more than 10 minutes take yourself off to A&E,'' which she did after 40 minutes, with her son, Lorcan.
'And then it started. I have eight injection sites – four nurses and a doctor couldn't get a vein,' she says dramatically, showing me the bruises. 'I was screaming in pain, saying 'I'm going home, I've had enough'. Eventually on the ninth attempt they managed to get some blood.
'Later on, one of the doctors came by and he said (voice grave, accent clipped), 'I'm very sorry for the treatment you had but we didn't realise how old you were'. I thought, thanks! You could have killed me!' It turned out to be a chest virus.
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Sparkling company, dripping with dry wit and irony, La Plante is sharp as a knife. Her thirst for knowledge is unrelenting, as she talks as enthusiastically as someone half her age about forensic advances, blood spatters, call tracking, light sourcing, fingerprints and footmarks.
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Her new series introduces Jessica Russell, an experienced CSI (crime scene investigation) officer who is chosen to head a team of scientists, experts in blood splattering analysis, fingerprint and data retrieval in the newly formed Metropolitan Police Serious Crime Analysis Unit (MSCAN).
The Scene Of The Crime, the first novel in the series, sees Jessica and her team unravel the mystery of a savage attack on the husband of a notorious barrister, who is left comatose. There are difficult senior officers and mounting pressure for results in the mix, just as you imagine there would be in reality.
She's hoping to write 10 books in the series.
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'I don't think I could ever retire. If somebody was to stand outside the door when I'm writing, they'd think, 'I better have the straitjacket ready for her because she's a lunatic'. I'm in there, talking away to myself.'
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La Plante would love her new character to be brought to TV and says she has already had interest.
'I'd like to be executive producer, which means I'm over it, on it and around it but I'm not doing the heavy duty work. I would be clinging to the desk to cast because it's so important to find someone with the right quality.' She'd also want to write the script.
'The progress (of TV adaptation) is frighteningly slow,' she says candidly, lamenting the huge amount of decision-makers there are in the process these days who haven't necessarily had the experience needed to bring great writing to life.
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She's had her fingers burnt on numerous occasions, she reveals.
'Scalded, burnt and chopped off!' she declares. It's no secret she fell out with ITV bosses over 'creative differences' on the young Tennison series, Prime Suspect 1973.
'When you are confronted by someone who says, 'We're very excited, we've got this lovely, wonderful, handsome actor.' I said, 'He's not right for the part at all.' But you are one little voice with a retinue of other people, some of whom have never produced a thing themselves.'
She's renowned for being meticulous in her research, talking to top scientists and senior police officers, has visited morgues and mortuaries, attended post-mortems and was the first layperson to be awarded an honorary fellowship to the Forensic Science Society.
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Her research helps her create realistic scenarios, often missing in other writers' work.
'In Silent Witness you've got a pathologist investigating crime, going out to locations. You don't do that. The pathologist is in the laboratory,' she explains.
She watches a lot of TV crime programmes and currently rates the US series The Blacklist and The Waterfront.
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'Yes, they (the US) have a bigger pool of actors over there but it's the standard of the filming and the scripts which are incredible.'
She would prefer to cast an unknown as Jessica Russell in any adaptation which may be made.
'What happens here is they list their actors coming into a new series as 'ex-EastEnder' or 'ex-Coronation Street', faces that we all recognise and know.
'It's very hard to fire through with something refreshing, because they hope that putting an actor's face in it who is well-known will turn on viewers. 'No!', I just want to scream, 'What turns on viewers is how good it is!''
As well as writing, she co-hosts a podcast, Listening To The Dead, with former CSI Cass Sutherland, exploring forensic science and its impact on solving crimes.
Her forensic details may be accurate, but it is also the characters that set La Plante's writing apart.
'I didn't want someone who was like Jane Tennison, I didn't want another female detective I've worked with (her Anna Travis book series). I wanted someone not automatically likeable. Jessica has gained experience by her own life experience. She's not a policeman. She can't make an arrest. She is there to tell her experts what to look for.
'I didn't want somebody alcoholic, you don't want somebody who's had terrible marriages, or divorces, or whatever. But what happens in your life marks you for the rest of your life.'
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Jessica's back story includes a childhood in which her father left, taking only her twin brother, her mother suffering aggressive cancer, and a sexual assault early on in her career.'She is on the sidelines of pain and death,' La Plante explains. 'She's slightly unnerving, because of her stillness.'
As the years roll by, divorcee La Plante, whose adopted son Lorcan lives in a garden annex of her home in Surrey with his girlfriend, says she should take more care of herself but she doesn't.
'I swim every day and I walk in the park and try to eat well,' she offers.
Lorcan also keeps her young, she agrees.
'He's extraordinary, training to be a pilot. But he does treat me a little bit like the Asda store. I see items disappearing (from her house) under his arm like paper towels or a bottle of milk,' she chuckles.
'But he's a wonderful chef, so he entertains lavishly over there, often when he's raided my fridge.'
The deaths of friends such as Bread actress Jean Boht, who died aged 91, and others who have reached their 80s have made La Plante think of her own mortality – but not for long.
'I'm very fortunate to have a happy gene.'
And the writing shows no sign of abating.
'I've got bits of paper everywhere, never mind the character's name, I've got bits of paper on who's talking, which takes an energy level – and then the calm starts when it's finished.'
(Zaffre/PA)
The Scene Of The Crime by Lynda La Plante is published by Zaffre. Available now
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Daily Mail
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Daily Mail
2 minutes ago
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Daily Mail
2 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
I heard my mother's murderer smash into her home on the Ring doorbell before beating her to death
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Natasha said: 'We had a great childhood, and we had a wonderful mum. She was a feeder; she liked to make a big Sunday roast and have everyone round. 'She taught me how to cook too. Every penny she has was for her children. Just before she died, she'd paid for driving lessons for my daughter. 'Our last outing together, four days before her murder, was to book Christmas dinner at a restaurant for us all. We'd never been out for Christmas dinner before, and we were excited. 'Mum loved Christmas, and she loved her garden; she liked anything which brought her family together. Following her death, locals paid tribute to Catherine Flynn, with one saying: 'She was the nicest lady you could ever meet, would do anything for anyone, a true queen with a heart of gold' 'She was there to support me when my first daughter, Latitia, was sadly still born in 2004. 'Two years later, she cut the cord when my second daughter, Natalia, was born. Mum was always there for us all.' In 2011, Mick passed away and Cathy's own health began to deteriorate. She was diagnosed with COPD, emphysema, arthritis and a leaking heart valve. Natasha said: 'Her health was bad, and she was so tiny, she was like a little doll. But her character was strong. 'I used to say she was made of solid gold. She needed a walking frame and a wheelchair to go any distance, but she still liked to go out and do her shopping and see people, and she was great company. 'She liked watching the soaps and she liked pottering in her garden. Above all, she liked to see her family. 'Due to her health, she moved to a smaller property, around a five-minute drive from me, and I saw her every day. If she wasn't well, I stayed over in her spare room. I even moved in with her for a while after she'd been in hospital. 'I made her meals, using the recipes she'd passed down to me, and took her for all her appointments. We were best pals as well as mum and daughter 'I had access to her Ring Doorbell stream but that was just for peace of mind because Mum had fallen a couple of times. Never did we think she might be burgled or attacked. 'Her home was lovely, she'd never had any trouble, she had a stair-lift and a walk-in shower, and a beautiful little garden. She was by the sea, and it felt like the perfect place for her retirement.' In October last year, the family planned a meal out and decided to book their first Christmas dinner away from home. Four days later, Cathy was murdered. Natasha said: 'It was a Thursday, which was takeaway night. My husband had called round earlier in the evening with Mum's takeaway and to check she was OK. 'Mum always rang me around 10.30pm to let me know she was safe in bed. I picked my phone up ready for her call and noticed a notification from Ring doorbell. I clicked on it, knowing Mum would not have a visitor this late.' To her horror, Natasha saw a man smashing the door and window before forcing his way into the house. She heard a series of thuds and bangs as her mother pleaded to be spared. She said: 'The attack lasted less than a minute, but I was hysterical. I was trying to use the microphone, screaming at him to leave her alone. 'I called 999 and they made me wait for the police to arrive before I drove round to Mum's. I was in such a state, I just wanted to see her, but they wouldn't let me in. I'd convinced myself she'd somehow escaped injury, that he had smashed the place up and stolen whatever he wanted.' But Cathy was rushed to hospital, and her devastated family were warned she had suffered catastrophic head injuries. The following day, they made the heartbreaking decision to withdraw life support. Natasha said: 'Mum was so swollen, all the bones in her face were broken so when I kissed her, she felt like jelly. She never regained consciousness. I held her hand and we all said a prayer and I told her: 'Don't worry Mum. Dad is waiting for you.' My whole world shattered when she took her last breath.' Thanks to the doorbell footage, Dean Mears, a local drug addict, was quickly arrested. Natasha said: 'We'd never heard of him. He didn't know my Mum at all. He claimed to be so high he had no idea why he had targeted her home and attacked her. 'The months after Mum's death were a blur. We held her funeral, but we couldn't say a proper goodbye because the police had retained tissue samples as part of their investigation. 'Christmas came, and I forced myself to go out for the dinner we'd booked, because I knew Mum would want me to be strong. But all I could think of was the empty place where she should have been. 'Natalia passed her driving test, which Mum would have loved as she'd paid for the lessons. But it was bittersweet. We couldn't celebrate anything without our Queenie. 'I had severe PTSD and flashbacks; I couldn't bear to watch TV in case there was a doorbell ringing. I felt guilty, as though I could have somehow saved her. I was overwhelmed with grief. 'I had a lot of help and I'm still having support from the police and specialist family liaison officers. But the pain never goes away.' At Caernarfon Crown Court in June, a jury was told Dean Mears had dragged Cathy from her bed, stamping on her at least 15 times before leaving her for dead. Remorseless Mears admitted manslaughter but was convicted of murder, following a nine-day trial. Judge Rhys Rowlands jailed Mears for 28 years and told him: 'You dragged her out of bed…stamped on her face 15 times, pretty much breaking every bone in her face. 'She was frail and extremely vulnerable. She was a very small lady. Plainly terrified, Mrs Flynn can be heard to plead with you, but you showed no mercy…you can be heard repeatedly stamping on her face. 'Your adult life has been blighted by you taking illicit drugs…..I'm quite satisfied that this case was a murder for gain. You didn't break into Mrs Flynn's home intending to kill her - as such the murder was not pre-meditated. 'I cannot ignore 15 blows were aimed by you. This was unusual savagery. You are a dangerous individual.' The family have now learned that samples taken from Cathy's body can be returned to them, so they will soon receive her ashes as a whole. Natasha said: 'When we have mum back together, we will hold a big party to celebrate her life, to remember the love and the joy she brought into the world. 'She will always be our Queenie. I'm raising awareness of violence against women and girls too. I'd like to help other families, in mum's name. 'But I won't ever forget or forgive. I am still being supported by specialist officers and FLO workers. And I will be ready, when Mears is up for parole. He is an animal, a monster, and I hope he never walks the streets ever again.' Following the death of Mrs Flynn - known as Cathy - one local said: 'She was the nicest lady you could ever meet, would do anything for anyone, a true queen with a heart of gold.' The judge added: 'Any loss of life is tragic, but your killing of Mrs Flynn that night wasn't only senseless but the circumstances surrounding it can only be viewed as truly horrific. 'You broke in, went up the stairs, passing the chair or stairlift on the stairs she used because she had only limited mobility. 'You dragged her out of bed, demanding repeatedly to know where the keys were, and repeatedly stamped on the victim on her face and neck, causing the most catastrophic of injuries. 'As to exactly why you behaved in that way, only you will know.' But the judge said drugs had ruined Mears' life and now the life of another family. 'I have no doubt the root cause was your long-standing addiction to harmful illicit drugs and association with the dealers at a higher level of these drugs.' Addressing Mrs Flynn's family, who cheered the guilty verdict from the public gallery, the judge added :'I can't for one moment put myself in their shoes. 'What a dreadful experience to have gone through:' He added that not many juries had to listen to somebody being killed. Afterwards Senior Investigating Officer Superintendent Lee Boycott of North Wales Police said: 'On 24th October 2024, Dean Mears broke into Cathy Flynn's home whilst she was sleeping and ferociously and repeatedly stamped on her in a brutal and violent unprovoked attack. 'The injuries Cathy sustained were not survivable and she tragically died the following day in hospital. 'His abhorrent actions that night was witnessed by Cathy's daughter on her doorbell footage, which will undoubtedly stay with her and her family forever. 'Despite Mears showing no remorse for his actions, Cathy's family have remained dignified and respectful throughout the judicial process. 'I commend them for their courage and my thoughts remain with them today. 'I welcome today's verdict and thank the jury, and the investigation team, for their diligent work in securing justice for Cathy's family.'
