Before she penned one of the most successful musicals of all time, Catherine Johnson was struggling to make ends meet as a single mother living in a damp flat in Bristol. Mamma Mia! the play went on to gross over $2 billion at the box office and the 2008 film is still the fastest selling DVD of all time. My interview with Catherine is now online here.

“I did absolutely want to write about the single mother who wasn’t a wretched kind of – you know – at that time there was a lot of press about single mothers being a drain on the state etc etc. so I wanted to write about a working single mother who had got her life together and the relationship she had with her daughter who she absolutely adored but fought with.”