Carla Lane facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Carla Lane OBE
Born	Romana Barrack (1928-08-05)5 August 1928 West Derby, Liverpool, England
Died	31 May 2016(2016-05-31) (aged 87) Mossley Hill, Liverpool, England
Occupation	Screenwriter
Nationality	British
Period	1969–2016
Genre	Television
Notable works	The Liver Birds (1969–1979, 1996) Bless This House (1971–76) Butterflies (1978–1983) Solo (1981–82) The Mistress (1985–87) Bread (1986–1991) Luv (1993–94)
Spouse	Eric Arthur Hollins ​ ​ (m. 1948; div. 1981)​
Children	2

Romana Barrack (born August 5, 1928 – died May 31, 2016) was a famous English television writer. She was known by her professional name, Carla Lane. She created many popular British sitcoms, which are funny TV shows about everyday life. Some of her most famous shows include The Liver Birds (which she helped create from 1969–1979), Butterflies (1978–1983), and Bread (1986–1991).

Carla Lane was special because she was one of the first TV writers to make women funny and real. Her shows often featured strong female characters, like busy moms and working-class women. Later in her life, she also became well-known for helping animals.

Early Life and School

Carla Lane was born Romana Barrack in West Derby, Liverpool, England, on August 5, 1928. Her father, Gordon De Vince Barrack, worked on ships, and her mother was Ivy Amelia. She had a younger brother and a sister. Carla grew up in West Derby and Heswall.

She went to a school run by nuns and even won a poetry prize when she was just seven years old! She left school at 14 and worked in different jobs, including a baby clothing shop and a factory. She married Eric Arthur Hollins when she was 19 and had two sons.

Becoming a Writer

In the 1960s, Carla Lane started writing short stories and scripts for radio. Her first big successes came when she worked with another writer named Myra Taylor. They met at a writing group in Liverpool and often wrote together at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool. Carla said she used the name "Carla Lane" because she was a bit shy about being a writer.

Carla and Myra sent some comedy ideas to the BBC, a big TV company. The head of comedy, Michael Mills, liked their ideas and asked them to write a full episode. This became the pilot for The Liver Birds in April 1969. At first, the show wasn't a huge hit, but Carla and Myra wrote more scripts, and it became very popular. People loved how Carla could find humor in everyday problems. After 1972, Carla Lane wrote the show by herself.

She continued to have a very successful career writing for TV throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Two of her most famous shows were Butterflies (1978–1983) and Bread (1986–1991).

Butterflies is often called her best work. It was about a main character who wanted more freedom from her kind but boring husband. Wendy Craig, the actress who played the main character, said that Carla Lane truly understood women and wrote honestly about their feelings. She wrote about things that many women felt but didn't talk about.

In the late 1980s, Bread was one of the most-watched shows on British TV. It was about a working-class family in Liverpool.

Helping Animals

St. Tudwal's Island East (foreground), known for its wildlife and purchased by Lane

Carla Lane loved animals very much. She became a vegetarian in 1965, meaning she didn't eat meat. She was dedicated to caring for animals. In 1990, she started a charity called "Animal Line" with her friends Rita Tushingham and Linda McCartney.

In 1991, she bought Saint Tudwal's Island East off the coast of Wales. She did this to protect the wildlife living there. In 1993, she turned the land around her large house in Horsted Keynes, Sussex, into a 25-acre animal sanctuary. She ran this sanctuary for 15 years, helping many animals, but eventually had to close it because it was too expensive.

In 2002, Carla Lane even returned an award she had received, the OBE, to the Prime Minister at the time, Tony Blair. She did this to protest against animal cruelty. In 2013, an animal sanctuary was opened in Melling, Merseyside, named after her.

Later Life and Death

Carla Lane wrote a book about her life called Someday I'll Find Me: Carla Lane's Autobiography, which came out in 2006. She moved back to Liverpool in 2009. Carla Lane passed away on May 31, 2016, at the age of 87, in Liverpool.

Television Series Written by Carla Lane

See also

• List of animal rights advocates