Janet Ellis at Lyric theatre, Hammersmith 26.5.09
Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis talks to Rosanna Greenstreet about her latest novel...
Best known for being an actress, Blue Peter presenter and Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s mum, Janet Ellis, has always wanted to write but, when it came to putting pen to paper, she procrastinated.
“Before I wrote seriously I put up so many barriers and one of them was, ‘If I can’t sit down at the same time every day then all is lost,’” she tells me on the phone from her home in Ravenscourt Park, “I am about being in character – I love it – and I think I was waiting for this writer character to arrive with a slightly different wardrobe, and it was me all along!”
A three-month writing course eventually spurred her into action and led to her debut novel, The Butcher’s Hook. “I write in a patchwork way. If I have an idea for a scene, I write it and store it. I had been writing for about six months before, fortuitously, I saw an ad for the Curtis Brown course. I liked the writer who was running it, Erin Kelly, whose books I’d read. The course was absolutely life-changing, it gave me an understanding of what I needed to do.”
The result – a novel set in Georgian London – was published in 2016 and longlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize, a prestigious award for first-time novelists. Naturally, Janet was delighted, not least because the fact that she was well known in the entertainment world had nothing to do with getting published, as she sent out her manuscript under a pseudonym.
“That was my agent’s idea because, without being daft about it, my career has a sort of ‘oh yes’ quality. Somebody will say, ‘Janet Ellis, Blue Peter – oh yes’; ‘Janet Ellis, Sophie Ellis Bextor’s mother – oh yes.’ I’ve absolutely loved everything I’ve done up and obviously I am proud of Sophie – as I am all my children – so I haven’t minded, but my agent felt that using my real name might result in a sort of ‘oh yes-ness’ in anybody reading my writing.”
So, under the name of Janet’s grandmother, Jo Winter, the work found a home at Two Roads, an imprint of John Murray Press. The book was eventually printed under Janet’s real name and now a second novel, How It Was, is set for release on August 8. Set in rural Kent in the 1970s, the action focuses on the relationship between a mother, Marion, and her daughter, Sarah, who has a history with the same man; something Marion discovers when she reads Sarah’s teenage diary, with heartbreaking consequences.
Janet, who is now 63, drew on the style of her own girlhood diaries which are still in her possession. As a teenager she lived in St Margarets and, after leaving Richmond County School for Girls at 17, she worked at the original Orange Tree Theatre, when it was just a room above a pub.
“The diaries are terrifying little documents. I was such a little prig. You’re writing about yourself and occasionally say something like, ‘Oh and somebody landed on the moon.’ What’s going on in your life is so important at the time and yet, when you look back, you can scarcely remember who people are!”
Janet left the Orange Tree to take up her place at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She went on to have a role in Dr Who, to present Jigsaw, and then Blue Peter from 1983 to 1987. She still lives in the house that she moved into with her second husband John Leach, just before Sophie started secondary school. Janet went on to have two more children – Jack, a drummer and Martha, an art historian. Sophie lives nearby in Chiswick and Janet sees a great deal of her five grandsons.
“I am a constant presence in their lives but, obviously, I see them so much, they are not impressed. They hardly bother to look up frankly but, whether they like it or not, I like to know what they are up to,” she laughs, adding of grandson number five who was born in January, “Mickey’s so lovely, he emerged smiling and that’s what he’s done ever since.”
Granny duties aside, Janet has a third novel in the pipeline – a ghost story – and she would love to write another book about Anne, the protagonist in The Butcher’s Hook.
She continues to take on acting work and Blue Peter still plays a part in her life. Last summer, she was in Makes, Bakes and Outtakes, a play celebrating Edinburgh 60 years of Blue Peter which had a month-long run at Edinburgh Festival. Given that viewers recently voted for their Blue Peter highlight, I ask for hers. She doesn’t hesitate, “The winning one – John Noakes climbing up Nelson’s Column wearing ordinary trousers, brogues and a scarf! We actually showed that clip in the play and even though well over half the audience was too young to remember it, they were so moved, it made people cry.”
Our chat comes to an end, Janet has packing to do. She is off to Sicily where she and John have bought a little house. “We haven’t even had the house a year, so we are still in the first flushes and go as often as possible,” she enthuses, adding, “Gosh, it’s like having a lover!”
How It Was is published by Two Roads in hardback £14.99
