Alison Hammond on her new novel Bombshell, family, and turning 50 in style
The TV presenter's novel is available now.
"I'll be honest," she whispers, "my deadline for it was last Christmas."
So you found writing Bombshell hard then?
No, I was passionate about doing it, so I was always going to get it done. Plus I had a co-writer – though we worked so closely together I call her my co-sister now. The collaboration was really fun. I'd email, WhatsApp and call her at any time of day. I expect she's missing me now…
Were you more Lennon and McCartney or the Gallagher brothers?
Ultimately, the decisions were all mine, because it's my story, my vision, and Madison [the heroine, who turns romcom detective when her TV heart-throb husband walks out on their family] is my baby. So I see us more as Destiny's Child with me as Beyoncé.
How autobiographical is this story?
There are similarities between me and Madison: she's big, curvy, black, sassy and a mum. But the main one is that she's a bombshell and so am I! But seriously, some of the stuff in the book comes from my life, some comes from gossip. So what you read might have happened to me or to a friend of mine, or it might have been a story I heard about someone I work with… you'll never know!
Did you go under cover on your fiancé when you split up in 2014?
I did do it for a friend once. She was blindsided when her boyfriend no longer wanted to be in her life, so we got in her car and we followed him, properly stalked him to see what was going on. She must have chosen me because I’m so inconspicuous, right? [Laughs loud enough to be heard three streets away.]
With all those parallels, are you thinking you might play Madison when Netflix decide to make a $500 million movie version?
Actually, I thought Judi Love would be good. Maybe a little bit of Idris Elba as her husband…
You're turning down a role opposite Idris Elba?
That's a very good point. I mean, if they do cast Idris, it's literally, "Goodbye, Judi Love. Sorry, I'm doing it." And then for [Madison's new love interest] Nathan, I'd like a young Colin Farrell or a Moulin Rouge-era Ewan McGregor.
Nathan in the book is pointedly younger than Madison. Is he about 27, would you say?
I know what you're playing at! My boyfriend David is 27 [Hammond is 49] – but no, I didn't even know David when I was writing the book.
Was it the other way round, then? Did you write a nice younger man, then think, "Ooh, I'll get myself one of them"?
That's hilarious! [Laugh that could be heard two cities away.] But no. And in fact this book is really about women supporting women. I’ve had strong women support me all my life – especially my sister and my mum.
In Bombshell there are a few moments that are a little bit emotional where Madison's mum [who has died of cancer] sends her some guidance; and there are times when I feel that my mum [who also died of cancer, in 2020] is giving me words of wisdom, too. When someone close passes on, you always remember how they talk, and I know what Mum would have said about some things, too, so I do sometimes hear her speaking to me.
So are your Christmas plans all about family?
When our mum passed, that brought my sister and me a lot closer. So we'll be spending Christmas together and everyone – her, me, my son, nieces, nephews – is bringing different food to my place for a big Christmas buffet. And then in February I'll be 50, so I thought maybe a '70s-themed party? Or an '80s one? Or maybe Bridgerton? Or… what about all three? [A laugh that sets off seismographs in the South Pacific.]
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