Earlier work
Film
Another Mother’s Son Feature Film, 2017
Lecoat began the research for this project in 2012 as a way to tell the story of her great aunt Louisa Gould, who sheltered an escaped Russian slave worker from the German forces on Nazi-occupied Jersey.
Betrayed (the family believed) by neighbours, her great uncle Harold was deported to Germany, eventually becoming the only British survivor of Bergen Belsen, whilst Louisa herself met her death in the gas chamber of Ravensbrüch.
The feature film, portraying the relationship between Louisa Gould and the young Russian slave worker whose life she saved, starred Jenny Seagrove, Julian Kostov, John Hannah, Amanda Abbington and Ronan Keating. Produced by Bill Kenwright Films it was released in UK cinemas, receiving huge press attention and praise from many reviewers.
…heartfelt, robustly presented drama
The strength of Lecoat’s script, and of Menaul’s direction, is the almost total avoidance of melodrama… shrewdly placed details bring a neglected aspect of WWII vividly to life.
…an accurate and absorbing account… I do urge you to see a film which chronicles such an overlooked chapter of World War II.
quietly impressed
Diana — Last Days of a Princess Television drama-documentary, 2007
This television drama-documentary by Dangerous Films, combining real footage of the princess, interviews with news journalists and dramatized scenes from her final weeks, was released to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Diana’s death.
The scripted sections, written by Lecoat, were heavily informed by the Paget report carried out by the Metropolitan Police in the investigation of her death. The film, starring Genevieve O’Reilly and Patrick Baladi, was shown in the UK, Ireland, Germany, Portugal, U.S., Australia, Russia and India.
TV Series
Lecoat’s first TV writer’s credit was on the Marks & Gran sitcom Birds of a Feather, where she met her future husband, writer Gary Lawson.
She went on to write numerous episodes of Dutch sitcom Double Trouble, and created her own sitcom series, Sometime Never, in 1996.
Moving into soaps and dramas, she spent six years with EastEnders, worked on Holby City and Dangerfield, wrote for children’s series such as Tracy Beaker and Young Dracula, and created comedy sketches for The Catherine Tate Show.
Teaching and other stuff
In addition to her own writing, Jenny has taught numerous writing workshops of her own design for New Writing South, Brighton. She has also tutored short courses or modules for the Arvon Foundation, London Film Academy and Central Film School.
In the mid 2000s she became a consultant for Moscow film company Amedia, co-creating a new soap opera for First Russia.
In 2019 and 2020 The Jenny Lecoat Short Screenplay Award was awarded as part of the 13th Parish Independent Film & Music Festival in Jersey.
Jenny is a qualified teacher of English as a Foreign Language, and has studied British Sign Language enabling her to work with D/deaf writers and actors.
