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How easy was it to write your mother, Dinah's story?

"I was in my late-twenties and once my mum had told me about Craze it opened up lots of emotions and she started to talk to me about her life, but prior to that she wasn't a very open person. Mum was quite stoic, she didn't show her feelings and would never of mentioned men and love in the same breath.

"She was never vain, she never had her hair done, never went for a facial or a manicure, she had the same yellow coat that she wore and never bought any new clothes. I spent a lot of time with mum talking to her about that era and what had happened – my mum was a storyteller and I think she passed that on to me."

Do you think she had been trying to tell you for a long time?

"She must have. If you hadn't told anybody that the man that you loved with all your heart, the only person that you'd ever loved had been brutally murdered and you'd never been able to talk to anybody, then that must have been hard. Mum had held on to that secret for 30 years.

"When mum first started telling me I thought she was going to say my dad wasn't my dad, I thought that's what she was coming around to telling me, but it wasn't. She never met my eyes. All I could see were her tears falling into the sink as she continued to wash up the pots and I continued to dry them."

What did Dinah think of the play you wrote for the West Yorkshire Playhouse?

Mum saw it a couple of times during rehearsals and then the night before the press saw it she turned to me and said "this is my story isn't it?" I told her that it was but nobody would ever know – I had disguised it quite a bit. Mum also came to press night and after the play I sat on the stage with the cast and director to answer questions.

"One journalist asked me 'it seems like somebody must have inspired it?' and I said 'well, there is somebody, but I'm not at liberty to say!' – then suddenly my mum from the back of the audience shouted 'it was me!' there she was waving her hands – the journalists all turned around and started to interview her instead – it was wonderful."

How did the play become a film?

"I had eight rave reviews the day after it opened in the West End and film offers were flying in from all over the place. I spent the next couple of weeks meeting people that wanted to buy the film rights including Sean Connery. I declined all offers as I wanted control of the project and wanted it to be British with British money and a British Betty."

How easy was it to cast the actresses playing the part of Betty?

"I knew I didn't want somebody posh doing a funny accent! We had the cream of British talent come in for auditions and when Billie auditioned, she blew me away. The minute Billie started to read, I just knew she was right. She had prepared really well and I couldn't take my eyes off her.

"During filming, Billie's accent was absolutely flawless – she was having voice coaching and I said: 'Billie, just ask me, I'm here everyday, I'm not going anywhere'.

"I had written for Sue before on Brookside and she would deliver lines just like I heard them in my head. Sue is the lead of a 90-minute piece, which was extraordinarily demanding, and, in many ways, the second part is more wordy than the first.

"Sue had to remember huge chunks of dialogue and emotional stuff, and she never put a foot wrong – she absorbed the part. At times she was my mum, but then, in many ways, so was Billie – she's how I imagined my mum used to be."