Sally Lindsay has revealed she still chats to her late friend Paul O'Grady every day – by talking to a nodding figurine of his beloved dog Buster. The Madame Blanc star, 53, keeps one of the canine models on her work desk at home and greets it each morning as though she were speaking to the TV presenter, who died from heart disease aged 67 in 2023.
A Daily Ritual of Remembrance
Lindsay, who became close friends with O'Grady after appearing as a regular guest on his ITV afternoon chat show, now owns six of the Buster figurines that he used to give away to viewers. She keeps one on her desk and taps its head every day, saying “Hello Paul” before launching into chats that include gossip and political discussions.
“The special thing in my office on my desk near where my computer is I have a Buster. I've got about six Busters from when I used to go on Paul O'Grady's show. And I've got a Buster there and he looks at me every day and I tap his head every morning and I say ‘Hello Paul’,” she said. “I like to have a chat with him and slag people off, I swear, and I like political chats with Paul and I do it through Buster. I know I'm mad but I am very emotional with my things.”
Cherished Memories and Souvenirs
The actress, known for her role in Coronation Street, also paid tribute to the late comedian Bobby Ball, with whom she worked on the Sky series Mount Pleasant, playing father and daughter Barry and Lisa. She keeps a table from the show's pub set, The Dog and Dart, in her south London home, which she says she will never part with.
“When Mount Pleasant got cancelled, which we did really well with as we did seven years, there was this table. It is knackered, it's old, it's falling apart. It's a distressed kind of one of those old ones that folds out.. dead old fashioned,” she explained. “But the reason I've got it is because it was in The Dog and Dart which was the pub in Mount Pleasant. And I love this table so much because this is where I used to sit with Bobby Ball.”
New Series of Madame Blanc
Lindsay, who co-writes The Madame Blanc Mysteries with co-star Sue Vincent, returns to Channel 5 on Thursday October 29 for a fifth series and a Christmas special. The new season features guest appearances from Bonnie Langford, Lesley Joseph, Brian Capron and Su Pollard, and begins with a violent murder in the town square.
The series, which films mostly in Gozo, sees Lindsay play antiques dealer Jean White, who solves mysteries in the fictional village of Sainte Victoire. She also welcomed Jason Manford to the show for series five, playing a character called Freddy Winner, after years of trying to get him on board.
