Beverley Callard called it “the book you’ll never forget”, while Sally Lindsay declared she couldn’t put it down. Claire King described it as “absolutely filthy” and even Dynasty legend Stephanie Beacham said she couldn’t get enough.
Ruthless Women is a page-turning bonkbuster so gloriously sexy, funny and gripping, it’s sending the showbiz elite wild.
So it’s no surprise its author, Melanie Blake, has been thrust into the spotlight herself. She’s the most talked-about new writer in decades – and after meeting her and reading the book, it’s obvious why.
The highly anticipated novel features a cast of deliciously devilish, highly sexed characters, all fighting to survive the reboot of Falcon Bay, a fictional soap opera in peril of cancellation due to falling ratings. With ageing actresses desperate to cling on to their crowns and ruthless male executives intent on booting them out for younger women, it’s a true battle of the sexes. Throw into the mix a savvy agent desperately trying to keep her warring clients under control, and it’s clear why Melanie’s so familiar with her subject.
“Yes, it’s fiction, but I have truly experienced every single scene in that book first hand,” she laughs.
That’s because Melanie is one of the UK’s top showbiz agents, now representing a slew of TV icons.
“I’ve lived and breathed it,” she tells us. “Tragedy, bankruptcy, attempted suicides, criminal dealings… as an agent you see that drama all the time!”
She may look after some of UK soaps’ top talent but, just like the plot of a novel, Melanie reached the top the hard way. She started as a soap extra before climbing the showbiz ladder in 6in heels to become one of the most powerful female agents in the industry. But writing has always been her dream and now, at the age of 44, she’s enjoying a second career in the spotlight usually saved for her leading ladies.
Fresh from the success of her best-selling debut novel The Thunder Girls, Mel wrote Ruthless Women during lockdown. And she’s hoping her titillating tale will help get a knackered nation back into the bedroom!
Here, Melanie discusses the truth behind the saucy sex scenes, her journey from rags to riches, and her penchant for celebrity jewellery…
[https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/21047/606662/602dfdf6c8bbf/1613626106437.jpg]
Melanie, Ruthless Women is as sexy as it gets. It’s been labelled “everything Fifty Shades should have been”…
Isn’t that fabulous?! The reason for that is because Fifty Shades, despite being written by a woman, is from a man’s sexual perspective – he has the power. In my book, no female is taken advantage of sexually by a man. If some bloke tried to tie up one of my female characters, they’d be more likely to tie him up – then laugh and go and sh*g his mate! All the sex scenes in that book are real. I watched with my own eyes as one household name, who’s still on screen now, went at it with her chauffeur in the limo before a TV awards ceremony!
Seriously?
Oh absolutely! And I put that scene in the book! Some actresses are so highly sexed in real life because they have access to specialist doctors who put them on particular blends of HRT that contain testosterone, which leaves them with the libido of a 25-year-old. In my experience, that’s what many soap actresses can be like.
So you had a lot of source material to work with…
Twenty years’ worth! Remember, soap stars are basically locked in factories all year round, they work God-knows-what hours, then four times a year they get to go to an award ceremony and it all goes on! Even I’ve had some incredible sexual encounters over the years with household names. Obviously, a lady never kisses and tells, but they know who they are! Imagine growing up watching a hot guy on TV, then years later you end up sleeping with them! I am unapologetic about that. Men do it all the time and are labelled a stud, yet we all know what they call a woman who is sexually confident, don’t we?! It’s sexism, to put it mildly. I think one of the reasons people love the book is because the characters’ lives are so exciting. The inspiration behind them, soap actresses, are super-human women.
[https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/21047/606662/602dfdf6c8bbf/1613626441372.jpg]
How so? Aside from their crazy sex drives…
They have to juggle family life, the drama, the backstabbing world of television – which, let me tell you, is dog-eat-dog. They have to turn up for work, churn out more scenes in one week than an Oscar winner could do in their entire life – and look good doing it. Plus they lose all anonymity. The public feel they own them! I was talking to Gillian Taylforth and she said the only upside of the pandemic is that she can go shopping in Tesco without being recognised, thanks to the face mask. It’s the first time in her life she can do that – that’s how famous being in a soap makes you!
You’ve been a renowned showbiz agent for decades, yet started off as an extra. How did you get your big break?
I always had an opinion and I wasn’t afraid to share it. So I befriended the actresses I was in close proximity with and told them what I felt they could be doing outside of the show. At first they were shocked at someone so young being so upfront, but they saw something in me – my passion for them getting the recognition they deserved. Most actresses in soaps over the age of 40 were gett...
Ruthless Women is a page-turning bonkbuster so gloriously sexy, funny and gripping, it’s sending the showbiz elite wild.
So it’s no surprise its author, Melanie Blake, has been thrust into the spotlight herself. She’s the most talked-about new writer in decades – and after meeting her and reading the book, it’s obvious why.
The highly anticipated novel features a cast of deliciously devilish, highly sexed characters, all fighting to survive the reboot of Falcon Bay, a fictional soap opera in peril of cancellation due to falling ratings. With ageing actresses desperate to cling on to their crowns and ruthless male executives intent on booting them out for younger women, it’s a true battle of the sexes. Throw into the mix a savvy agent desperately trying to keep her warring clients under control, and it’s clear why Melanie’s so familiar with her subject.
“Yes, it’s fiction, but I have truly experienced every single scene in that book first hand,” she laughs.
That’s because Melanie is one of the UK’s top showbiz agents, now representing a slew of TV icons.
“I’ve lived and breathed it,” she tells us. “Tragedy, bankruptcy, attempted suicides, criminal dealings… as an agent you see that drama all the time!”
She may look after some of UK soaps’ top talent but, just like the plot of a novel, Melanie reached the top the hard way. She started as a soap extra before climbing the showbiz ladder in 6in heels to become one of the most powerful female agents in the industry. But writing has always been her dream and now, at the age of 44, she’s enjoying a second career in the spotlight usually saved for her leading ladies.
Fresh from the success of her best-selling debut novel The Thunder Girls, Mel wrote Ruthless Women during lockdown. And she’s hoping her titillating tale will help get a knackered nation back into the bedroom!
Here, Melanie discusses the truth behind the saucy sex scenes, her journey from rags to riches, and her penchant for celebrity jewellery…
[https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/21047/606662/602dfdf6c8bbf/1613626106437.jpg]
Melanie, Ruthless Women is as sexy as it gets. It’s been labelled “everything Fifty Shades should have been”…
Isn’t that fabulous?! The reason for that is because Fifty Shades, despite being written by a woman, is from a man’s sexual perspective – he has the power. In my book, no female is taken advantage of sexually by a man. If some bloke tried to tie up one of my female characters, they’d be more likely to tie him up – then laugh and go and sh*g his mate! All the sex scenes in that book are real. I watched with my own eyes as one household name, who’s still on screen now, went at it with her chauffeur in the limo before a TV awards ceremony!
Seriously?
Oh absolutely! And I put that scene in the book! Some actresses are so highly sexed in real life because they have access to specialist doctors who put them on particular blends of HRT that contain testosterone, which leaves them with the libido of a 25-year-old. In my experience, that’s what many soap actresses can be like.
So you had a lot of source material to work with…
Twenty years’ worth! Remember, soap stars are basically locked in factories all year round, they work God-knows-what hours, then four times a year they get to go to an award ceremony and it all goes on! Even I’ve had some incredible sexual encounters over the years with household names. Obviously, a lady never kisses and tells, but they know who they are! Imagine growing up watching a hot guy on TV, then years later you end up sleeping with them! I am unapologetic about that. Men do it all the time and are labelled a stud, yet we all know what they call a woman who is sexually confident, don’t we?! It’s sexism, to put it mildly. I think one of the reasons people love the book is because the characters’ lives are so exciting. The inspiration behind them, soap actresses, are super-human women.
[https://magarticles.magzter.com/articles/21047/606662/602dfdf6c8bbf/1613626441372.jpg]
How so? Aside from their crazy sex drives…
They have to juggle family life, the drama, the backstabbing world of television – which, let me tell you, is dog-eat-dog. They have to turn up for work, churn out more scenes in one week than an Oscar winner could do in their entire life – and look good doing it. Plus they lose all anonymity. The public feel they own them! I was talking to Gillian Taylforth and she said the only upside of the pandemic is that she can go shopping in Tesco without being recognised, thanks to the face mask. It’s the first time in her life she can do that – that’s how famous being in a soap makes you!
You’ve been a renowned showbiz agent for decades, yet started off as an extra. How did you get your big break?
I always had an opinion and I wasn’t afraid to share it. So I befriended the actresses I was in close proximity with and told them what I felt they could be doing outside of the show. At first they were shocked at someone so young being so upfront, but they saw something in me – my passion for them getting the recognition they deserved. Most actresses in soaps over the age of 40 were gett...
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New UK (Digital) - 1 Issue, February 22, 2021