Meet the Author: The House On The Edge Of The Cliff writer Carol Drinkwater

For more than 12 million people All Creatures Great and Small was the ultimate in not-to-be-missed telly drama.

It made Christopher Timothy, Robert Hardy and Peter Davison household names. But at the height of its popularity Carol Drinkwater, who played James Herriot’s wife Helen, walked away to devote herself to a new life as an author – and she says it was the worst career move she ever made.

She found herself shunned by the BBC and the acting world she had loved so much was suddenly closed off to her.

“I had written a children’s book called The Haunted School which Penguin picked up and was then sold as a mini-series to Australia,” said Carol, speaking to P.S. from the olive farm in the south of France which she has long called home.

“Disney bought it for America. I told the BBC I didn’t want to do any more All Creatures and in retrospect that was a mistake.

“If I had my time again, I wouldn’t have left the series. I would have gone with my writing and stayed with All Creatures. I wasn’t being challenged any more with the character and I felt I needed that – but the writing would have been that challenge.

“The BBC weren’t happy and they wouldn’t employ me, which was a big problem.”

Finding roles was even more difficult for Carol as she had moved to France with new husband Michel, whom she’d met in Australia.

The farm took up huge amounts of time and no little of her earnings from her writing career. Thankfully, that blossomed. She has now written 21 fiction and non-fiction books, including four memoirs set on her olive farm.

“I love the fact that you are in control as an author, because the story is yours,” said Carol, whose latest novel, The House On The Edge Of The Cliff, is an epic tale of love and betrayal set in a Provencal villa.

“But what I miss is the camaraderie with actors. Writing is a very solitary experience. I start my day writing as, if I left it until later on, my head would be so full of other things.”

While it may sound somewhat lonely at times, the picture Carol paints of cloudless skies, scented plants and views over the Mediterranean is idyllic.

And although she says it has taken all of her earnings to get the farm into shape, it’s clear that’s where her heart lies.

But she has, in recent times, been dipping her toes back into the acting world.

“I have done little bits and I’ve got a new agent,” she adds. “I just can’t commit to a long theatre run because I live across here.”

The House On The Edge Of The Cliff by Carol Drinkwater, Michael Joseph, £7.99