Former BBC Breakfast presenter Louise Minchin has released her debut novel, inspired by her stint on I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!, where there was one shocking side effect.
Louise was an I’m A Celeb campmate in 2021 and got a taste of life in a different historical period on Time Crashers back in 2015. Her thriller, Isolation Island, was inspired by her stint on I’m A Celebrity, during which Storm Arwen led to the evacuation of the contestants from the Welsh castle setting. “We were all evacuated in the dead of night and sent into little Airbnbs across north Wales,” Louise recalls.
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Joel Anderson/ITV)“The storm was very dramatic. It took I’m A Celeb off air. We were in one strange environment then thrown into another with no access to the world.” She shares another encounter, “One of my vivid memories is waking up in the morning when it’s quiet, and you’re the only person awake, and then you sit up and you hear the camera whir and focus on you. So there’s a real sense of being controlled. For me, it was very intense.”
She’d had the idea for a novel for a while, but had envisioned the main character, investigative journalist Lauren, to be in a newsroom environment. She changed her mind after her experiences on reality TV. “I’m a massive fan of reality shows. I love I’m A Celebrity and I love that they always have a cast of characters and I loved the idea of being able to make up my own cast of characters,” she says.
Given that she has personal experience of all the hardships, hunger and personality clashes that make reality TV so compulsive, is there some truth in what she writes? “The feeling I hope you get from the book is that feeling of intense scrutiny. You are being watched all the time. Everything you do and say is being watched. There’s a sense of claustrophobia and isolation from family and friends."
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Headline/PA)Since leaving BBC Breakfast three years ago, Louise, 56, has become a full-time writer, although she occasionally stands in for Lorraine Kelly on ITV’s Lorraine. She says she no longer has the desire to be engaged in the news 24 hours a day, or to start work at 3.40am, which took its toll on her. As for further reality shows, she says she wouldn’t do Strictly because she just can’t dance, but admits, “I’m desperate to do Race Across The World. It’s tough in a wonderful way because of the relationships we see forming.”
But as Louise, who lives in Chester, already has an idea for a second thriller, is her TV career on hold for now? “If the right show came along, I’d be very happy,” she replies. “But I’m also very happy writing.”
Isolation Island by Louise Minchin (Headline, £20) is available now.
English (US) ·