Lynda La Plante
Lynda La Plante is a prominent English screenwriter and author, best known for her impactful contributions to crime drama in television and literature. Born in Liverpool to working-class parents, she began her career as an actress after training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, before transitioning to writing in the 1970s. La Plante gained significant recognition with her television series "Widows" in the early 1980s, and her acclaimed "Prime Suspect," featuring Helen Mirren, which showcased a strong female lead navigating a male-dominated environment.
Over her career, La Plante created several successful series, including "Trial and Retribution," and has written nearly thirty-five bestselling crime novels, often drawing from real-life crime situations for authenticity. Her work has earned her numerous awards, including BAFTAs and an honor from the British Film Institute. In addition to screenwriting, La Plante founded production companies to bring her narratives to life on screen and has published prequel novels to her famous characters.
Known for her meticulous research, she has consulted with law enforcement and visited various crime-related settings to enhance the realism of her stories. La Plante, a commander of the British Empire, continues to reside in London, where she remains an influential figure in crime fiction.
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Subject Terms
Lynda La Plante
- Date of birth: ca. 1943
- Place of birth: Liverpool, England
Biography
Lynda La Plante was born Lynda Titchmarsh to working-class parents in Liverpool, England. She grew up with her parents, older brother, younger sister, and grandmother. At the age of sixteen she began training as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts before working with the National Theater and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Under the name Lynda Marchal, she appeared as a regular on a number of popular television series in the United Kingdom between the late 1960’s and early 1980’s, including The Doctors (1969), Rentaghost (1976), Coming Home (1981), and Educating Marmelade (1981), as well as in the movie High Road to China (1983).
La Plante also began writing in the early 1970’s before scoring a major success in the early 1980’s with scripts for a successful television series, a six-part crime drama called Widows. She followed this up with her much acclaimed early 1990’s series, Prime Suspect, starring Helen Mirren as besieged Detective Chief Inspector Jane Tennison who must cope with rampant chauvinism while solving horrific crimes. In a continuous string of well-received offerings known for their realism and accuracy, La Plant also created and produced the long-running Trial and Retribution series, which debuted in 1997. Her original script for Prime Suspect won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award, a British Broadcasting Award, the Royal Television Society Writers Award, an Edgar Award, and a Women in Films Award; Prime Suspect 3 won another BAFTA Award in 1994 and was nominated for an Emmy that year. Among a plethora of other honors, La Plante was also named an honorary fellow of the British Film Institute.
In 1994, La Plante, a crime writer much in demand, created a namesake television production company, which has produced such offerings as the author’s own She’s Out, The Governor, Supply and Demand, Mind Games, Killer Net, and The Commander. She also collaborated on and produced The Prosecutors for the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in the United States, adapted her novel Bella Mafia as a mini-series for the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), and produced a pilot for the American cable television station TNT. La Plante has published some thirty-five internationally best-selling crime novels and novelizations of her various television series. These novels include The Legacy (1987); Cold Blood (1996), which was inspired by the case of actor Tyrone Power’s missing granddaughter; and Above Suspicion (2004). In addition to her character Jane Tennison, she also invented the series character Lorraine Page, a Los Angeles–based former cop, former prostitute, and recovering alcoholic who works as a private investigator. La Plante, in 2001, created Cougar Films to produce television programs and feature films. That same year, she received BAFTA's 2001 Dennis Potter Award for television. She also endowed an annual award for a creative writing scholarship at John Moores University in Liverpool.
Throughout the early 2000s, La Plante continued to produce prolifically and enjoy success on screen. In 2002, La Plante's breakthrough work, Widows, was remade into an American feature-length directed by Steve McQueen, who tapped her to serve as executive producer. Soon after, her Anna Travis novels (2004–13) were adapted to the small screen in the United Kingdom. The series interweaves such issues as prison overcrowding and sexism into its plot lines.
In 2016, La Plante published Tennison, a prequel to the Prime Suspect series. Despite nominally being a writer and executive producer for the six-part television adaptation,Prime Suspect 1976 (2017), La Plante had little input in the making of the show. This culminated in a major dispute with the ITV producers and her departure from the project. La Plante nevertheless went on to write several more prequel novels featuring Jane Tennison, including Hidden Killers (2016), Good Friday (2017), and Murder Mile (2018).
La Plante draws inspiration from true crime and is renown for her in-depth research. To better depict the world she recreates in her stories, she has visited prisons, morgues, and brothels; interviewed criminals, crime victims, and victims' families; and consulted with law enforcement and forensics personnel. Her thoroughness and dedication to her craft have brought her numerous accolades, including appointment as a commander of the British Empire in 2008, a Specsavers Crime Thriller Award in 2009, and induction as a Forensic Science Society fellow in 2013.
Her marriage to musician Richard La Plante ended in divorce in 1996. She later adopted her son, Lorcan, in 2004. She resides in London.
Bibliography
"Biography." Lynda La Plante, 2018, lyndalaplante.com/biography. Accessed 26 Nov. 2018.
Galvin, Nick. "Interview: Lynda La Plante." The Sydney Morning Herald, 11 June 2011, www.smh.com.au/entertainment/books/interview-lynda-la-plante-20110609-1ftk4.html. Accessed 26 Nov. 2018.
Kean, Danuta. "Lynda La Plante: Make Way for Mrs Angry." The Independent, 23 Sept. 2007, www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/lynda-la-plante-make-way-for-mrs-angry-464539.html. Accessed 26 Nov. 2018.
Molony, Julia. "Lynda La Plante: True Stories from My Life of Crime." Independent.ie, 29 Oct. 2018, www.independent.ie/entertainment/lynda-la-plante-true-stories-from-my-life-of-crime-37462568.html. Accessed 26 Nov. 2018.
Yorke, Harry. "Crime Writer Lynda La Plante Reveals Fierce Row with ITV amid Claims She Was 'Barred' from Production of Prime Suspect Prequel." The Telegraph, 25 Aug. 2017, www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/27/crime-writer-lynda-la-plante-reveals-fierce-row-itv-amid-claims. Accessed 26 Nov. 2018.