Sarah Phelps Interview

Sarah Phelps has written for No Angels, Holby Blue, and Westway. She is a core writer on EastEnders, and wrote the adaptation of Oliver Twist screened at Christmas on BBC1.

How did you start off as a writer?

I've always, even as a kid, liked words. Always liked playing around with words and writing stories at school, and would write massive ridiculously long letters to people and things like that. But I never imagined that that would be my job.You never even imagine that's a job that you can do, or something that other people did.

I went to university quite late, as a mature(ish) student. And while I was there I wrote a play which frankly should have been sunk into concrete and pushed into the sea. But nonetheless that's pretty much where it started. Then I went to work and I stopped writing for a long, long time. And then I wrote another play for the Derby Playhouse Studio after being asked to, just a little three hander. And that was where it all came back to life really.

When did you work that out that it was a job that you could do for a living?

I don't know really. I think I'm still trying to work it out. It's one of those things where your life changes very radically, and I've been doing this as my main source of income, as my job, for seven years. I started out on the World Service, and then went onto EastEnders. And obviously I've just done Oliver Twist now. And it's been one of those things where suddenly life changes very, very fast. And you don't really have time to go oh my God look, my life's really changed. So I'm still trying to work that out.

What keeps you interested in a long running drama like EastEnders?

I love the show. And it was always the one that I watched when it first started, and catchphrases from EastEnders became catchphrases in my family. You know Nick Cotton would have this catchphrase which was "Oh shut up ma. Giz a fiver". And it'd be what my brother said to my mum. And two of my brothers are extremely hefty and rather balding and we just called them Phil and Grant... so EastEnders was part of my family life and I really enjoyed watching it. And I think that my interest with it was because I had a passion for it, an absolute passion for it, and a pride in it as well.

I went on a shadow scheme which was for writers that were new to TV and Tony Jordan gave us this talk. And he said this amazing thing which has really stayed with me and I think is absolutely true of anything you're going to write, which was: if you think you're going to come here and earn a few bob churning out EastEnders scripts while you're waiting for Hollywood to notice your great screenplay then basically eff off now because the show will find you out. If you haven't got the passion the show will find you out.

It was the whole thing about your need. It needs to beat in your blood. Even though it's a long running show and people can be quite snobby about soaps and things like that, nonetheless when it hits its note it absolutely sings and it is one of the best things on TV. The great, great, great episodes, the stand-out ones, can hold their head and shoulders up against anything else on the television. And that's the kind of pride and the passion that I have in it.

How does the writing process work differently on a continuing drama like EastEnders to, say, a more limited series or something you're writing from scratch?

Well it's quite obvious in a way. EastEnders is an institution. And it has characters that people are very familiar with. It has a very definite microclimate of its own. And it has incredibly recognisable places. It's huge. It's more recognisable to a lot of people than their own places are. And you know you don't want to merge into the background when you're writing for something like that, but you're always aware that everywhere your characters walk on those stones or every part of the room they stand in has history attached to it. You're always reminding yourself of the history within the subtext of what they say to each other. And you're always looking for the very little pots of gold in every little tiny event so that you can explore them at a later date. You're always thinking about what has gone before and what's going to come next, not necessarily the day before, the day after, but ten, twenty years before and ten, twenty years down the line.

You're also working with a huge team of people. And you're picking up from other writers' ideas, looking at storylines that other people have written and wanting to put your own stamp on it and to make it your own and tell the story in the way that you know that you can tell it, rather than being what people presume a soap show like EastEnders wants them to be, which is a ventriloquist.

Any writing requires a real voice and honesty and the hand-on-heart truth. With something like No Angels, which is a very different kettle of fish, you're starting something from scratch but again you're working with a team of writers and you're trying to make sure that the characters' voices are authentic, that they're immediately recognisable, and then you develop them and put more complexity into their character. It's not that dissimilar to be honest. But with something like Oliver Twist it was just me on my own and that was bliss.

Could you tell us a little bit about your writing routine? How do you go about creating?

I get up really early in the morning. I turn on my computer. I drink a cup of tea. I light a cigarette. I stare at the computer for half an hour. And then I get dressed and go out. I come back at about half past nine at night and then I swear and smoke and curse and write through the night. I wish that I had that thing where I could go: right, I'm going to write from nine to twelve. It just doesn't happen like that.

And you know - well it sounds really mad when I say it - but I have to fill up. I just go away and fill up with it all and then I can come back and write it. And I generally write very, very quickly because obviously then I'm writing against the clock and I'm writing through the night. But I've done all my thinking time beforehand. So I'll sort of self edit as I go. But if the sun's shining I just can't do it. I'd rather write at night. There's less distraction.

So there's a lot of swearing, there's a lot of smoking and there's a lot of drinking tea. And feeling sorry for myself as well.

If someone wanted to write for a living what advice would you give them?

It's hard. You're a freelancer and that means that you've got to graft and you've got to put the hours in. And the other thing is I think that loads of people say "Oh I want to be a writer". Well, write then. You have to write. You - Eve Arnold the photographer has this fantastic phrase - learn by doing. And that's the only thing that you have to do. Every time you write a script you're learning, you're learning, you're learning. And you have to get over the hang up of showing your work to people, people scrutinising your work and coming back with notes, coming back with ideas, coming back with criticisms.

You have to grow, you have to nurture what you believe but you also have to grow a thick skin. And that has to be learned as a balancing act. I had a full time job but I think like any other great adventure you have to dive in with both feet and commit yourself to it. You can play it safe and you can get a full time job doing something else and think well, I'll try and do the writing at the weekend. But it's not just a full time job, writing, it's a full time life. That's the only thing. It's really dominates and obsesses everything. And I think that there comes a point where you have to take a punt and have faith in yourself. If you have that much belief in yourself then, you know, put your money where your mouth is and jump in.

What's the best thing about writing?

The best thing about it is all these worlds coming to life and all these words coming out of characters' mouths and them getting larger than life and telling stories. You sit there at your desk and sometimes the hair on the back of your neck rises or you go cold with excitement or you're writing really fast cos your heart's racing or you're writing and you're laughing at your writing and you're crying and you completely forget where you are. That's the best thing about it.