Can you tell us a little about the origins of Ladies of Letters, and how the Radio 4 show first came about?
Carole: Ladies of Letters began as a game between us in 1985 - a kind of written improvisation, where the one rule was that we couldn't discuss the narrative. This meant that, even if the last letter from the other one didn't take the story in the direction you had in mind when you wrote your last letter, you just had to go with the current flow. We still use this rule to this day, and thus the narrative is always quirky, surprising us both!
Did you draw on anyone specific for inspiration?
Lou: We joke that it was modelled on our mothers, but after all this time it is now about us! We both come from a similar background - lower middle class northern with middle class aspirations - so it comes from the wellsprings of our upbringing in Chester and Leicester.
What’s it been like taking the Ladies from radio to TV?
Carole: We decided to start the TV by using the script of the first book (Ladies of Letters started life as a book before it was ever a radio, and in fact that book is being republished by Carlton to coincide with the broadcast). The puzzle was how to make two ladies, who communicate through the written word, televisual.
We worked for a year on the scripts with the late great Geoffrey Perkins of Tiger Aspect, and he hit upon the idea of having them voice the letters as they were getting on with their daily chores.
In this way, the visuals add to the knowledge we have about Irene and Vera - we can see by the way that Irene polishes her apples with a special cloth that she has obsessive compulsive issues, and by the way that Vera throws flour into a bowl when making a cake that she has an instinctive and devil-may-care attitude towards life.
Lou: Visiting the set was very exciting for both of us, seeing our written ideas come to life with the exact props we'd imagined.
Is it strange seeing (or hearing) the characters played by different actresses?
Lou: There are now three sets of Irene and Veras: Lou and Carole, Pru and Patricia, and Maureen and Annie - not to mention our mothers, which possibly makes four! We often take the characters out for a show ourselves, having performed them at book festivals, and at the National Theatre and London's Drill Hall.
The difference with the telly, though, is seeing the characters in their costumes and make up and in their own homes. The added visual element is a joy to both of us.
The radio series is of course continuing – so how will that work in terms of storylining between the two versions?
Carole: We have just finished writing the tenth radio series - Ladies of Letters Crunch Credit - which will air in April on Radio 4. Series 2 of Ladies TV will be based on Series 2 of the radio and book, and so on. We have found to our amazement that stuff that was an issue back then is still an issue now - prison ships, for example, and poor educational opportunities for women on the edge of society. But as we write the TV series, we update where necessary: recycling is more of an issue now than it was in the eighties, for example, so we have them doing more of that. And, with the radio, it took them 3 series to find e-mail. In the telly version, they discover it at the end of series 1.
What was it like working with Maureen and Anne?
Lou: It was great working with these two great actresses, just as it is great working with Pru and Patricia all these years. We love to go into readthroughs and hear our words come out of other mouths, which gives it all an added dimension we couldn't have imagined. All of the actresses bring their own take on the characters, keeping the essence of Irene and Vera, but with their own inimitable spin. Having the visual element at their disposal too, Maureen and Annie had a lot of fun inventing comedy business, and the results are hilarious.
What can fans of the radio series look forward to in the Ladies’ first TV outing?
Carole: Oh! What a treat you're in for! John Henderson, the director, normally works as a film director (only the very best for the Ladies!), so the telly is an absolute visual feast. Whereas the radio is pretty fast and furious, John allows time to look around their homes, adding both to the humour and the pathos. There's a moment, for instance, in one of the early episodes, when Vera says that her dog is dead now, and also her neighbour friend. She is alone in her front room, and she strokes the spot on the sofa where we are used to seeing the dog lying. It's an achingly lonely moment. He also uses a muted sepia tint for flashbacks, and watching Vera and Irene doing the tango at Lesley's wedding is fabulous.
