Maxine Gordon was a familiar face on British TV for many years. For me, she will always be Anne Marie in the dark children’s drama Midnight Is a Place, and she kindly spoke to me about that programme for a chapter I’m contributing to a book*.

But our ‘interview’ (conducted via email and voice note) covered more than I could use for the book. I asked her about life as a child and teen actress in the 1970s, and specifically about some of the other TV shows and the groundbreaking film The Offence, a gritty crime thriller about a burnt-out out detective who snaps when interrogating a suspect.

It was fascinating to hear her memories – including the lie she told at an audition to get a TV part and the experience of working with Sidney Lumet and Sean Connery.

On her most popular shows:

“And Mother Makes Five was a top-rated show and we had lots of publicity.  I wasn’t the original Jane. The part was recast and I got it. I absolutely loved it, and I’m still in contact with David Parfitt. We’re really good mates. Up to date

“Crossroads was amazing for different reasons because I was a bit older then. And although I hated Birmingham when I went there the first time – it was a massive culture shock – I got to really love the place and actually bought a house there and settled there for a few years. I spent about five or six years in Birmingham, which I love.”

On life as a young TV actress:

“You got treated really well. I never did crowd work, I always played parts, so you were spoilt because they wanted you in a good mood. I had a chaperone until I was 16, but it was brilliant not having a chaperone anymore because I was very mature. You grow up very quickly because you’re working in an adult world and you understand that you can’t muck up, you’ve got to be right.

“I went to stage school which is how my acting started. I went to Corona, which is no longer there in Ravens Court Park. In my first week there, I went for an audition for Dixon of Dock Green, which was quite a big part and got that, so I was kept for the bigger parts. I didn’t get to do the commercials, which I found very irritating.”

On The Canal Children

“It was incredible because it was in 1976 and it was the hot summer. We were filming away the whole time so we had an absolute blast. That was really good. I did a lot of growing up that summer.

“I’d lied at the audition about being able to ride a horse. I then go the role and then panicked slightly – when I got the script, the opening directions on the script were ‘Betsy Russell jumps on to her horse out of the stables and jumps over the fence’. I thought ‘Oh my God! What have I done?’  So I had to quickly go and get some riding lessons, and it was side-saddle as well. The good thing is that I didn’t tell the director till half-way or three-quarters of the way through filming that actually I hadn’t sat on a horse beforehand. So they all had a good laugh about that.”

On The Offence and Sean Connery

“What I remember is the huge buzz around this guy I was working with, who got to pick me up and spoil me and be really sweet. And I remember his – Sean Connery’s – aftershave to this day, because he used to wrap me up in his big sheepskin coat. And I think that was the only time my mother’s been interested at all in what I was doing. It was all night shot around Bracknell.

“I was 11 or 12 when we did that. I remember the producer Sidney Lumet, who was an absolute legend, I didn’t realise how important that man was, working for him – very laid-back.

“It was all night shooting, maybe a tiny bit of day. I had my own Winnebago to myself. A lot of waiting around, and Sidney Lumet actually had to interview my parents as to whether they thought it might affect me. But I wasn’t allowed to see a script, and I wasn’t allowed to go to the Leicester Square opening. My parents went.

“Because I didn’t see it, I wasn’t really aware of it. I suppose there would have been psychologists involved these days, but then it was alright just to meet the parents and check that it was alright with the parents.”

Up to date

Maxine stopped acting when she had her two children, though she still did some corporate videos and commercials. Then she taught dance-drama and retrained in property – a sector she’s been working in for 20 years.

In summer 2024 she married Andrew Elliot. Congratulation, both! And she says she’s considering doing some acting again.

Huge thanks to Maxine and best wishes for the future.      

       * A Box of Delights edited by Rodney Marshall is due to be published in 2025.

If you’re involved in arts or entertainment, check out the services of Weltch Media here.