TIP-OFF FOR A PRINCE

On Friday I went to collect my CBE from Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace - I never dreamt I could be reduced to such nerves. At school I didn’t win a single thing or I might have been more composed. I kept taking deep breaths, saying to myself, “It’s all right, Lynda. You’ll be all right” – and of course I was, because Prince Charles was a delight. He said, “What have you got out now?” And I said, “Above Suspicion.” And he said, “Jolly good. I’ll watch that.”

People tell me I’m prolific but I think I’m just lucky. It’s the success that urges you on and makes you write more. I’ll never stop – wherever I am, I’m always looking for new material. If I’m in the supermarket and I see a headline in the local paper about missing people, then I’ll go home, pick up the phone and find out how the cases are moving on.

I don’t think I have a black view of the world – I just happen to write about the criminal world and the criminal world is very dark. I never let my imagination run riot; I always go to the source.

SMELL OF MURDER

These days the newspapers are my main inspiration, but I used to go everywhere in search of it. When I was researching Prime Suspect, I persuaded a police officer to take me into a mortuary – and nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. There was a pathologist there, standing over a murder victim with a swollen belly. Then he stuck in his knife and the smell was like nothing on earth. I fainted like a lead balloon.

When I’ve got enough material I start to write. I absolutely love it. Sometimes I start at 4am. And even if I’ve been out to dinner and had a few drinks, I’ll still find myself homing into my computer and doing another few pages.

LOSING THE PLOT

It’s working out the plot that’s the torturous part. That’s when I toss and turn all night, thinking, “Oh, no. She should have given the keys to the driver then he could be a suspect, too.”

I’m always working on another television series, so most weeks I’ll be back and forth between my home in Surrey and my offices in London. This week we’ve been celebrating the success of The Commander, which beat all the opposition last week during its three-night run on ITV.

A lot of my books are about women battling to succeed in a male world – a path I’ve trodden myself. There are still times when I have to control my testosterone levels. It’s very difficult when you run a production company and you say, “I really like this actor”, and the director says, “I don’t.” But I’m learning to give a little.

MOTHER’S DAYS

I never work at weekends, nor on Mondays. Those days are for my five-year-old son, Lorcan, and no one else is allowed to come near me. I try not to prioritise between my son and my work, as it’s my work that enables me to look after him. But motherhood is everything. It’s been the fulfilment of a dream for me. I never believed it could happen and it’s given me a future.

If I had adopted when I was any younger, it would have been very different. When it finally happened, I was so ready for it and so wanted it and the cushion of success has taken all the stress out of being a single parent. Sometimes, when I take Lorcan to the playground, I get mistaken for the granny. I don’t mind. I just think, “Oh God. Do I really look that old?”

I’m hopeless about looking after myself. We have an indoor pool at home and I haven’t been in it for six months. And the other day I joined an exercise club, but I went in and thought, “Help. I don’t want to be here” – so I left. Motherhood’s turned me into a butterball. I polish off all the fish fingers and chips that Lorcan’s left on his plate, then eat another meal myself.

A CHILDREN’S STORY

But I’m feeling quite vigorous. This week I’ve been busy with my lawyers, because I’m being sued by my son’s former nursery, which claims that I owe them another term’s fees because I didn’t give enough notice before withdrawing him.

I’m refusing to pay on principle. I withdrew him because I felt they weren’t protecting him. One day he came home with bite marks on his back. And they said they didn’t know how they got there.

I don’t think motherhood’s made me any softer, but it’s opened up a new world to me. The other day I met my American publisher and I said to her: “You know, I would like to write a children’s book.”

She just looked at me with complete horror and said, “Lynda, please!”

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