Lynda La Plante

Born and raised in Liverpool, Lynda La Plante trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art RADA. After finishing her studies, she began her career as an actress appearing with the Royal Shakespeare Company in a variety of productions, as well as popular television series including Z-Cars, The Sweeney, The Professionals and Bergerac. However as an actress she is perhaps best remembered as the hay-fever suffering ghost Tamara Novek in the BBC children’s series Rentaghost.

Lynda has received many awards over the course of her illustrious career, including an Honorary Fellowship from Liverpool John Moores University and also became an honorary member of the British Film Institute.
Lynda became an author and in 2009 she was inducted into the Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame and most recently, in 2013 she was awarded an Honorary Fellowship with the Forensic Science Society (FSSoc); the first non-scientist to be inducted into the professional body – receiving the award for the accuracy with which she portrays forensic science in her books.

My School:
I attended Streatham House, Great Crosby, Liverpool.

My Favourite Teacher:
Difficult one that – Miss Green my art teacher and also my elocution drama teacher Dawn McCormick.

Favourite Subject at School:
That is an easy one and would have to be literature.

Were you streetwise or a bit of a geek?
Neither, I was a very happy go lucky pupil as the school was quite lax, and I never felt under pressure.

My Favourite Childhood Band/Singer:
Doris Day, believe it or not. I loved her shirt dresses with tight belts and full skirts.

 
My Favourite Extra-Curricular Activity:
Writing plays that I performed with my friends in our garage.

Do you remember your first school crush?
I used to think that a prefect called Natalie was really amazing but she always ignored me.

My Favourite Book:
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

School Dinners:
Better than my mother’s cooking and I loved the spotted dick puddings with lashings of custard. Shepherd’s pie was also one my all time favourite’s and I still cook it for myself now

My Ambitions at School:
To gain a place at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, which I achieved.