
Service Wash
Rupert Smith(Author)
Serpent's Tail (Publisher)
Published on 23. October 2006
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-1-85242-928-7 (ISBN)
Description
Paul Mackrell would like to be writing sensitive prose fiction but when he?s offered an incredible fee to ghost the memoirs of TV?s most famous soap star, he can?t refuse. Star of the long-running soap New Town, Eileen Weathers has played Maggie Parrott, manageress of the Clean Queen laundrette, for 30 years. The media giants behind the show need Eileen?s autobiography to be a bestseller to help rescue the soap?s rapidly falling ratings. No stranger to tabloid gossip, Eileen is keen to put pay to the rumours about her murky past. She wants to reveal the true, unadulterated story, or so she tells Paul. But some of her stories don?t quite add up. When Eileen?s husband and his young mistress are found dead in the family home, suspicion falls on her and she is arrested. The papers have a field day and New Town?s ratings soar but will the soap survive with its leading lady behind bars? Did Eileen commit murder? Did she really used to be a man? It?ll all come out in the wash...
Reviews / Votes
?A smashing book? Paul O?Grady ?Pacy, funny and cheerfully vulgar? The Times ?Service Wash has all the bedhopping, bitchiness and high camp that you could hope for in a piece of trashy entertainment in the style of Footballer?s Wives? Independent on Sunday ?Service Wash goes inside soap and finds a world brimming with lust, greed and deadly ambition. Smith?s parodies are laugh-out-loud funny, and his satirical gifts have never been sharper or more accurate? Time Out ?A riotously enjoyable read... This is a fast-paced, quick-witted rollercoaster ride of a novel and, just like the soap operas that Smith parodies, utterly addictive. Quite simply a novel for our times? AttitudeMore details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Profile Books Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 196 mm
Width: 129 mm
Thickness: 13 mm
Weight
150 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-85242-928-7 (9781852429287)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Rupert Smith was born in Washington DC and grew up in Surrey. He is the author of two previous novels - I Must Confess and Fly on the Wall - and numerous TV tie-in books, including EastEnders: 20 Years in Albert Square. He has also been a ghost-writer for various celebrities, including Michael Barrymore. He is a regular contributor to the Guardian, Radio Times and Gay Times and lives in London.