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"Cooper's wicked sense of humour, eccentricities, self-deprecation and saucy attitude are evident in this refreshingly jolly portrait...It's a fabulous romp through her 'lucky life'" Radio Times

“The novelist proves as cheeky as her novels in this charming profile.” The Sunday Telegraph

"It's as captivating as the tales she penned." The Sun

 

This film celebrates a supremely insightful, funny and sharp-eyed chronicler of our lives and times: Dame Jilly Cooper.

Having sold over 12 million books, few other British writers have so consistently held up a mirror to the British as we really are – to our sex lives, class obsessions and the messy reality of our relationships. What does her extraordinary half-century of work tell us - not just about her world but about ourselves?

Told in her own words, and with access to her personal archive, the now 87-year-old writer reflects on her life and work, from her childhood in Yorkshire, where her love of horses, dogs, and devilishly handsome men were all forged, to her early career in journalism and publishing in the 1950s and 1960s. She describes the ‘macho’ world of both industries at the time and, with unflinching honesty, recounts an incident of attempted rape by a then-famous (and unnamed) author.

The film takes Jilly back to the home in Putney she left 42 years ago, and where she lived with her late husband Leo and her children. It was here that she first found success in the late 1960s, writing a Sunday Times column about marriage, sex and society that, with its candour and sharp social commentary, was decades ahead of its time.

Watching some of her chat-show appearances with Russell Harty and Terry Wogan, Jilly talks with humour and frankness about married life, her attitude to sex, moving to the Cotswolds and the breakthrough success of her 1985 novel Riders – the first of a series of racy and thrilling novels that became known as the ‘Rutshire Chronicles’, and that catapulted her to the top of the bestseller lists. And attending a polo match at Cirencester Park, Jilly is mobbed by fans, young and old: a testament to how her writing continues to enthral.

This film, to be broadcast as part of the new BBC One arts strand, In My Own Words,  celebrates a supremely insightful, funny and sharp-eyed chronicler of our lives and times in Dame Jilly Cooper. Few other British writers have so consistently held up a mirror to the British as they really are - what does her extraordinary half-century of work tells us - not just about her world but ourselves?

 

Produced and Directed by Michael Waldman

Producer: John Shirley

Film Editor: Denis McWilliams

Executive Producers: Neil Crombie and Joe Evans

 

Photo copyright Paul Groom