Danielle Steel / Ken Kercheval

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Danielle Steel / Ken Kercheval (The Write Stuff)

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The weekly books series also explores the dark sides of Enid Blyton and Jackie Kennedy Onassis.

Presenter Anne Robinson introduces us to highlights of the programme ahead and reporter Richard Barber visits bestselling author, Danielle Steel. She shares how she runs ideas by her husband for his reaction and also discusses finding the time to write with such a large family of children.

Anne talks us through the UK Top Ten Non-Fiction Hardback Chart and then interviews Imogen Smallwood, daughter of the famous children's author, Enid Blyton. She discusses her new book, A Childhood at Green Hedges, in which she sets out her unhappy early life, which she blames her mother for.

In New York, Richard speaks to C David Heymann, a biographer whose latest book is a controversial analysis of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. He recounts how his approach to the subject was rebuffed and how he then set about researching the book. He discusses her enormous expenditure and also allegations of drug-taking in the White House.

Robert then visits the antique-filled home of actor Ken Kercheval from the then-current US soap opera, Dallas. He is the week's celebrity book reviewer and he talks through the latest edition of Miller's Antique Price Guide. Anne finishes the programme by revealing the week's UK Top Ten Paperback Fiction Chart.

The Write Stuff was a weekly round-up of the world of books, authors and publishing and was a contribution from Ulster Television to the ITV network's daytime schedules. Each week, presenter Anne Robinson and reporter Richard Barber interviewed prominent authors, sought out celebrities for the latest books they'd read and ran through the weekly book charts.


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From the collection

The Write Stuff

Take a trip back in time to the literary landscape of the 1980s, full of spy and romantic blockbusters, in this series made for Channel 4 and presented by Henry Kelly and Anne Robinson.
Think Top of the Pops for the book world. For two series, this Channel 4 look at the world of 1980s literature, made by Green Apple/UTV, gave viewers the chart countdown for both fiction and non-fiction interspersed with interviews with the top authors of the day. Hosted by Henry Kelly for the first series and Anne Robinson for the second, The Write Stuff visited authors both in the UK and the USA to gain insights into their crafts or even just for juicy details on stars being covered by biographers. Lovers of books will find much to fascinate them here, with bestselling authors of yesteryear interviewed in their prime, from Jeffrey Archer to Clive Barker and from Ruby Wax to Jackie Collins. How many of the titles featured have lasted the course of popular and critical acclaim? Indulge yourself in this literary series to find out.

17 videos in this collection

1

Barbara Taylor Bradford / Jack Higgins

2

Noel Barber / Joss Ackland

3

Craig Thomas / Ruby Wax

4

Sally Beauman / Ned Sherrin

5

Rosemary Conley / Griff Rhys Jones

6

Mary Higgins Clark / Willy Russell

7

PD James / Ruth Madoc

8

Jilly Cooper / Walter Coblenz

9

Gerald Seymour / Neil Tennant

10

Jackie Collins / Ben Elton

11

Danielle Steel / Ken Kercheval

12

Evan Hunter / Douglas Fairbanks Jr

13

Ruth Rendell / Frederick Forsyth

14

Margaret Forster / James Herbert

15

Jeffrey Archer / Jonathan Kellerman

16

Dick Francis / Leon Uris

17

Maeve Binchy / Clive Barker

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