All language subtitles for Jeanette Winterson Remembers Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

It was in 1989 when I was approached by
the BBC to see if I would like to script

my novel, Oranges Are Not the Only
Fruit, into a three -part drama.

I was told that this would be low budget
because there were other priorities,

because the BBC was always brutally
honest.

But they would let me write it by myself
and I would have full control.

And I was allowed to suggest directors
and I wanted to work with a young

director, she was then, called Beeban
Kidron.

whose work i knew from the greenham
common days when i've been on the

protest marches about nuclear weapons
and b band made a fantastic documentary

called carrie greenham home and she
trained as a camera woman actually at

national film school she wasn't really
directing then and i thought she had an

interesting vision and a beautiful color
sense

And I wondered if they'd let me get away
with it. And then a third young woman,

Philippa Giles, was suddenly attached to
it as a producer.

And we hadn't done anything. And those
were the days when the BBC would say to

you, if it was low budget, go away and
see what happens.

So we went away, saw what happened, did
the scripts, and they said, OK,

here's your money, start filming.

I don't think they had any expectation
of what would happen. And that's how it

came about. And then, of course, it was
a huge success, won us the BAFTA, got

Geraldine McEwen a BAFTA for Best
Actress, and the whole thing rolled on.

We don't see you at church much any
more.

No. I found somewhere quieter.

Oh, I thought you were a Methodist.

Mum! Be quiet.

What?

I don't think Jake can move her arm.

Have I been overzealous?

I'm fed up. I'm going home. I'm going to
join the methadone. Growing pains, Miss

Dewsbury. Goodbye.

When we began to cast oranges...

I had no idea who would want to play
those roles. And Beban went out and

approached Geraldine McEwan, who read
the scripts and said, this is fantastic

for an actress.

And she said, I want to do this. I'm
doing it. I'm signing up. So once she

on board, then we began to see other
people getting interested. Kenneth

was the pastor.

Beban was looking for a young girl who
could really do the job of playing.

Little Jeanette.

It's not autobiographical, but it is
what you now call autofiction, I guess.

we had to find somebody who could manage
that sensibility in a way which was not

self -conscious.

And Charlotte Coleman was fabulous at
that.

Great seriousness on the set all the way
through in that this was something

important that we were making. We really
felt that. And we wanted to respect the

fact that we'd been left alone, allowed
to do it and not let anybody down, not

screw it up. So that was the level of
seriousness. But there was also such

playfulness and fun because Oranges is
very funny. And I think when people

it now, they'll laugh out loud just as
much as they ever did. And especially

relationship between mother and
daughter, which is a relationship that

really can relate to and understand,
even if their own isn't crazy.

Can't pay very well.

What's the matter?

I don't know.

It'll be the Lord blocking your ears to
all but the words of the Spirit.

I heard you, Danny.

That's because I'm telling the truth.

It's a miracle.

A miracle in our midst.

Wait till I tell the pastor.

When we had to approach episode two,
which is where the moment happens where

two girls realise that they've fallen in
love, and it's not naked roll -around

sex, but they do have their clothes off
and they kiss each other as they realise

that this friendship has grown into
something which is deeper and more

significant to both of them.

And everyone there...

Everyone on the set, the cameraman, the
sound guy, everybody really wanted this

to be beautiful as much as anything else
so that anybody watching it wouldn't be

able to make any obvious complaints. We
knew that there would be trouble.

We were living in a Margaret Thatcher
world of Section 28 where gay

relationships couldn't even be talked
about in schools and where there was so

much fear.

still, and repression. So we wanted
this, not to be like a soft porn

titillation, but neither did we want it
to be obviously offensive in any way. We

thought you're going to have to find the
offence and not make it easy for people

to jump on any bandwagon there.

I was brought up in the Mary White House
years, so I knew how easy it would be

for all of that, especially with the
tabloids, to come crashing down.

But in fact...

That didn't happen. I think because by
then, everybody watched episode one and

loved it. By the time people are halfway
through episode two, we have the

audience with us.

So it was absolutely the right place to
put it.

It was a pivotal moment there, and then
from there the rest of the drama

developed. So it's structurally very
sound where it is, and I think that's

important. You have to get people with
you on your side before you do something

which is potentially a little more
challenging.

We didn't have a big budget for Oranges,
so the filming timetable was quite

short, and it was done up in the north,
not in Accrington, my hometown, but in

places around there.

almost the time because I was fascinated
by it and I wanted to see it happen and

also

We were rewriting things all of the
time. In that sense, it was lovely.

I mean, because although we had a
finished script, if something just

working or one of the actors would say,
do you think I could do it differently

or shall we?

We were together, much more in a kind of
theatre ensemble way, really. So

remaking it, building it as we needed
to.

And every night, we'd look at what we'd
filmed, we'd talk about it, we'd discuss

if there were things we wanted to make.

for the next day. So yes, I didn't
realise at the time that this is not

how it works, that level of
collaboration, just that confidence.

I think it was because we didn't know
enough to realise how wrong it might

gone. We didn't know that we were doing
it differently as well as making

something that was different because we
were young.

They're fornicating.

Thinking about watching Oranges now,
whatever generation you are, I think

of the same things would apply that
applied then in that it was risky and it

groundbreaking because it was about love
between two young women at a time when

this really wasn't subject matter for
TV. And in fact, we were the first kiss

television. It wasn't Brookside.

We were out of ourselves there.

But it was more than that. It wasn't...

and never has been a coming out drama
because it was tethered to a strongly

religious background sensibility,
absolutely bonkers Pentecostalism

And what I've noticed over the years is
now a lot of young women who are in

Muslim communities find oranges both
reassuring and liberating because they

what it's like to grow up in a very
strict, repressive, sexually rigid

and faith.

And so these same problems repeat
themselves across time. And of course it

was... early for it to be all about
young women as the stars and as the

of the story. And that's still so
important.

You know, in 30 years we've made
progress, but perhaps we wish we made

progress. We are doing now, you know,
and I'm so happy that Oranges and those

us who made it were in the vanguard of
something, the beginning of a change, I

guess.