Carla Lane

Carla Lane's enchanting autobiography fizzes with the wry humour, sharp insights and fabulous characterisation one would expect from the author of such award-winning TV comedies as The Liver Birds, Bread and Butterflies.

Always a rebel, Carla's own life has not been without its personal dramas, and she writes about them all with disarming frankness and humour. Sent to a strict Catholic convent school in Liverpool, she was always near the bottom of the class, except in poetry for which she won the school prize when only seven, her poem appearing in the Post. Carla was married at seventeen and a mother of two by the time she was nineteen - ironing and hoovering by day, writing by night while the family slept.

When, in 1970, her first scripts were accepted and The Liver Birds was born, her life was to change dramatically as she shot to fame, finding herself suddenly surrounded by by big stars and immersed in the power-play of the TV world. She writes engrossingly about those heady years, about the actors and directors she worked with, about the breakup of her marriage and the secret affair she has never before spoken about - but also, and with gusto, about her Liverpool childhood and colourful family which have remained her inspiration, from her Auntie Girtie who stole a gold chalice from the local church to her Uncle Tom who who spent all his leisure time writing to soap manufacturers!

First published: Tuesday 31st October 2006