Kate Saunders

A BRILLIANT intellect wrapped up in a beautiful person, Kate Saunders brought joy to thousands of readers.

The celebrated writer and actor, who grew up in Dartmouth Park and lived in Archway, died on April 21 aged 62.

Her early career saw her become a respected presence on stage and TV, and when she turned to writing, her produc­tivity saw her publish more than 20 books from historical romances to a Victorian detective series, and award-winning children’s books.

Then there were her columns and reportage – employed by a swathe of national newspapers, she would head off to cover issues that her sparkle would illuminate.

Kate’s was a boisterous childhood with five siblings – Etta, Bill, Louisa, Ed and Charlotte. Her parents, Basil and Betty, had been only children and decided they would like a few of their own.

They moved to Dartmouth Park Avenue in the late 1950s and filled it with a family.

Basil was in the PR industry, and Betty a trailblazing female journalist, working for the Daily Mirror.

Kate went to Gospel Oak Primary School and then Camden School for Girls.

She was an archetypal bookworm, and her family recall how their father would spend weekends finding new playgrounds but Kate would instead nestle down in the car to read another chapter while her siblings ran about.

Her school friends were the first readers to benefit from her imagination.

She wrote a pot-boiler about the First World War and her friends were in it. “Every day they wanted more – they would gather at break time and she would read them the latest instalment,” recalls her sister Louisa. “She would create romances and then kill the men off.”

For all her natural intelligence, school did not rub along with her and she left with a smattering of O-levels.

Having studied at the Anna Scher Theatre school, aged 16 she earned a job with the Bubble Theatre Company, touring with The Beggar’s Opera.

A regular on TV screens, she played a police officer who became Rodney Trotter’s love interest in Only Fools and Horses.

She appeared at the National Theatre and used time during rehearsals and performances to put herself into her first novel. Aged 25, her family did not know she had written it until it won a literary prize.

Kate could read at extraordinary speed. Whenever the next instalment of the Harry Potter series was due to be published, newspapers needed someone who could get the book the moment it was released, speed-read it and turn out a review in one sitting. Kate would be couriered a copy and she would have her thoughts ready for the next edition.

Her sources were expansive. She read non-fiction, loved Victorian literature, and she scoured second-hand bookshops, walking away with a bundle of faded hardbacks and a big smile.

She wrote a series about an archdeacon’s widow turned detective, based in the early Victorian period, each scene carefully described and captivating readers.

Her family were there to inspire: The Belfry Witches series – a hit which was adapted for TV – allowed Kate to draw on her sisters and their cats.

Opera and theatre remained a part of her life once she had quit the stage (she remarked she was “rather plain for an actress, but as a writer, I am gorgeous”), while, closer to home, she loved a drink in the Lord Palmerston.

In 1993 Kate became a mother and in the same year was diagnosed with MS. Its progression increased after her son Felix, aged 19, passed away. His death was reflected in two children’s books, the Costa prize-winning Five Children on the Western Front, followed by The Land of Never Endings.

Kate died following a diagnosis of cancer. On her last day, she sipped champagne with close friends and family, and joked: “At least I’ll never have to watch Love Actually again.”

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