Charlotte Bingham

Charlotte Bingham (29 June 1942 – 16 November 2025) was an English novelist who wrote over 30 mainly historical romance novels and also wrote for many television programmes including Upstairs, Downstairs; Play for Today; and Robin's Nest. In her television work, she often worked with her husband, Terence Brady.

Biography

Early life

Charlotte Mary Thérèse Bingham was born on 29 June 1942 in Haywards Heath, Sussex.<ref name="Official Website">Template:Cite news</ref> Her father, John Bingham, 7th Baron Clanmorris, wrote detective stories and was a secret member of MI5. Her mother, Madeleine Bingham, née Madeleine Mary Ebel, was a playwright and biographer. Bingham first attended a school in London, but from the age of seven to 16, she went to the Priory of Our Lady's Good Counsel school in Haywards Heath.<ref name="Official Website"/> After she left school, Bingham went to stay in Paris with some French aristocrats with the intention of learning French. She had written since she was 10 years old and her first piece of work was a thriller called Death's Ticket.<ref name="Official Website"/> Bingham wrote her humorous autobiography, called Coronet Among the Weeds, when she was 19, and not long before her twentieth birthday a literary agent discovered her celebrating at the Ritz. He was a friend of her parents and he took off the finished manuscript of her autobiography.<ref name="Official Website"/> In 1963, this was published by Heinemann and was a best seller.<ref name="Official Website"/> It has been compared to How to Stay Married by Jilly Cooper for its portrayal of London.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite book</ref>

TV work

On April 29, 1963, while in New York City, Charlotte Bingham appeared on the American TV game show, To Tell the Truth, to promote Coronet Among the Weeds. In 1966, her first novel, Lucinda, was published. This was later adapted into a TV screenplay. Coronet Among the Grass, her second autobiography (1972), dealt with the first ten years of her marriage to fellow writer Terence Brady. The couple, who have two children, later adapted Coronet Among the Grass and Coronet Among the Weeds, into the TV sitcom No, Honestly. Bingham and her husband collaborated on the scripts for three early episodes of Upstairs, Downstairs, "Board Wages", "I Dies from Love" and "Out of the Everywhere". They later wrote an accompanying book called Rose's Story. They also wrote the episodes of Take Three Girls featuring Victoria (Liza Goddard). In the 1970s, Brady and Bingham wrote episodes for the TV series Play for Today, Three Comedies of Marriage, Yes, Honestly and Robin's Nest. During the 1980s and 1990s, they continued to write for the occasional TV series and adapted Jilly Cooper's novel Riders for the television film Riders (1993).

Later work

Beginning in the 1980s, Bingham became a romantic novelist, writing novels including To Hear a Nightingale, The Business and In Sunshine or in Shadow. Most of her books are set in the 19th and 20th centuries. In 1996, she won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.

Death

Bingham died on 16 November 2025 at the age of 83.<ref>Charlotte Bingham, best-selling author and TV writer, dies aged 83</ref>

Bibliography

<ref name="fantasticfiction">Template:Citation</ref>

Non fiction

• Coronet Among the Weeds (1963)
• Coronet Among the Grass (1972)
• MI5 And Me (2018)
• Spies and Stars: MI5, Showbusiness and Me (2019)

Novels

• Lucinda (1966)
• The Business (1989)
• In Sunshine or in Shadow (1991)
• Stardust (1992)
• Nanny (1993)
• Change of Heart (1994)
• Grand Affair (1997)
• Love Song (1998)
• The Kissing Garden (1999)
• Country Wedding (1999)
• The Blue Note (2000)
• The Love Knot (2000)
• Summertime (2001)
• Distant Music (2002)
• The Magic Hour (2005)
• Friday's Girl (2005)
• Out of the Blue (2006)
• In Distant Fields (2006)
• The White Marriage (2007)
• Goodnight Sweetheart (2007)
• The Enchanted (2008)
• The Land of Summer (2008)
• The Daisy Club (2009)

Love Quartet

1. Belgravia (1983)
2. Country Life (1985)
3. At Home (1986)
4. By Invitation (1993)

Nightingale Saga

1. To Hear a Nightingale (1988)
2. The Nightingale Sings (1996)

Debutantes Saga

1. Debutantes (1995)
2. The Season (2001)

The Bexham Trilogy

1. The Chestnut Tree (2002)
2. The Wind Off the Sea (2003)
3. The Moon at Midnight (2003)

Eden Saga

1. Daughters of Eden (2004)
2. The House of Flowers (2004)

Mums on the Run Series

1. Mums on the Run (2010)
2. A Dip Before Breakfast (2012)

With Terence Brady

Victoria Series

1. Victoria (1972)
2. Victoria and Company (1974)

Honestly Series

1. No, Honestly (1974)
2. Yes, Honestly (1977)

Upstairs, Downstairs Series

1. Rose's Story (1972)

External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0082923

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0082923|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm0082923/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+Charlotte+Bingham%0A++++++%7C+Charlotte+Bingham%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if: 0082923  {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: Charlotte Bingham
 | Charlotte Bingham
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 0082923{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=0082923|plain=false}}

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}