Q&A with Presenter Sally Lindsay

As a proud Mancunian, passionate about politics, presenter Sally Lindsay takes viewers on a fascinating journey as she asks what transformed her personal heroine Emmeline Pankhurst from working mum to global icon, in BBC documentary Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making of a Militant.

As an actor, Sally has starred in many of Manchester’s best loved TV hits, getting her first break in the ground-breaking sitcom The Royle Family, with roles in Phoenix Nights and Fat Friends following soon after. After five happy years as barmaid Shelley Unwin in Coronation Street, she appeared in the sell-out A Taste of Honey at Manchester’s internationally renowned Royal Exchange theatre. More recently she headed up seven series of Mount Pleasant for Sky1.

Sally is passionate about creating more strong leading roles for women on TV and, with her friend Suranne Jones, created the smash hit detective drama Scott and Bailey for Manchester’s Red Productions, in which she also starred. In demand on screen, Sally has appeared more recently appeared in Murdered for Being Different, Still Open All Hours, and Moving On.

Why did you want to present this documentary?

I really didn’t have to think about it at all – as soon as the email asking me to present it came through I replied that same second to say I would do it. As a Mancunian she has been such a big part of my life growing up, she’s always been a heroine of mine, so getting the chance to really dig into her story and find out more about her was just the perfect opportunity for me.

How much did you know about Emmeline Pankhurst before you started working on the film?

We were never taught about her at school, even growing up in Manchester, which is something I think should change. Her story should be on every school curriculum. But because I come from a long line of strong Mancunian women who are interested in politics, she was always being mentioned to me, and I was brought up made aware that this is where she came from. But I think, like most people, I knew of her as this iconic figure but nothing really about her as a person. Making this film has really opened my eyes to what a fascinating, amazing character she really was.

How important do you think Manchester as a place was in making Emmeline the iconic figure she became?

Massively.I don’t know why we haven’t celebrated her more as a Mancunian hero before now actually. I think maybe people have always associated her more with London and forgotten her Manchester roots – hopefully this film will put that right.

Maybe it’s partly down to the Mancunian spirit – so many amazing things have happened here, like anti-slavery campaigns, the Peterloo Massacre, that I suppose as a city we take it for granted that all these radical things have happened here.

Making this film though we really noticed that the tide was turning – with the centenary of some women getting the vote this year there is a definite interest in Emmeline and finding out more about her. And celebrating her on her home turf I think.

Emmeline’s personal story has not been told in a programme like this before – how important do you think it is to bring these stories to the screen?

I think it’s really important – there are a lot of female stories still not being told. But I do think the wind is really changing now, there is a global shift and at last women are being listened to and being heard. As an actor and also a writer it has been a real battle over the years to get powerful female stories to the screen. But people are finally realising that women want to see other women on screen in strong lead roles.

There was a time when I think people thought you needed a handsome lead and woman being saved – but people aren’t bothered about that any more. I think there are some great dramas out there now with female leads and being made by women and people are seeing they are successful and want to make more.

In terms of Emmeline’s story itself, I think it’s really important that people hear it, it’s so inspiring to young girls in particular to find out more about what she managed to do.

How would you describe the Manchester acting scene?

The great thing about Manchester is there are loads of strong women working here – on and off screen. I think there are loads of really interesting female actors, we all have quite an individual look. I think Manchester has always broken the mould when it comes to making telly, we have a strong tradition of telling gritty and funny stories – of telling what is real, of portraying real life and I think that has universal appeal.

There is a big campaign now to get more women represented on and off screen, how do you feel this programme contributes to that?

I feel really passionately about parity on screen, that everyone from all walks of life should be more fairly represented. I think it’s great that there are so many female voices in this programme – not just me as a presenter but in our actor, our experts and the characters we are talking about. But I don’t think it was an entirely intentional push to have so many women – it’s just that these are the historians and experts who happen to know the most about this topic. They have the expertise so they should be the ones that are included in the programme, on merit.

How important is the drama reconstruction to this documentary?

I think the drama is a really important part of this film. Firstly because Frances is a great actress and did a great job of bringing Emmeline to life but also because of the way Emmeline is portrayed.

As part of my research for this project I listened to Emmeline’s autobiography as an audio book and it drove me mad that it was voiced by someone with a posh London accent. Emmeline was a Mancunian – and the great thing about this programme is we have her portrayed as a northern voice. The other reason I think it’s really important is that nothing gets into people’s living rooms and hearts like telly does – and having ‘Emmeline’ talking direct to you down the camera has a real emotional impact that will make people think about her as a character.

What have you learned about Emmeline from making the documentary?

It’s been quite a profound experience in a way – because I really have learnt why she became the militant person that she did. I think the most important thing I learned about Emmeline and the Suffragette movement in general was that she was rejected so many times.

Before making this I just thought she was brilliant and a freedom fighter – but she became that after years and years of trying to get her voice heard and being ridiculed and shifted to one side. That was the most fascinating thing about her. It wasn’t like she just woke up one day and started defacing paintings – she tried everything for years to get heard. But in the end she woke up and thought enough was enough and did something.

Her organisation and tenacity as well are just really inspiring – how she managed to gather thousands of people together for a rally in Hyde Park without even a text or an email like we would today is amazing!

The hashtag for the programme is ‘Be More Emmeline’ – what will you take away personally from making the programme?

One of the most profound experiences when making the film was reading a rarely seen interview with Emmeline, before she really became famous, where she was asked about how she managed to juggle her work life with having children. I couldn’t believe it – it is my biggest bugbear in interviews that I get asked that all the time. Men are never asked if they can manage having children and a job, yet female actors are asked that in every interview. It made me realise that we are still facing the same prejudices over a hundred years later. So, it has inspired me to be more forthright – I always have been to be fair!

But I have definitely changed my attitude since filming this programme.I’m more confident to go to people with my own ideas for programmes. Whereas before I might have shied away from approaching somebody with an idea, now I think what would Emmeline do? Nothing comes from nothing – she made everything happen.

Sally Lindsay discusses the BBC One documentary Emmeline Pankhurst: The Making of a Militant. Supported by Marketing Manchester, this documentary is part of the #RadicalManchester campaign marking the city's role in the centenary of votes for women. #BeMoreEmmeline