From Rita to Mrs Overall, Julie Walters has brought us some truly memorable characters, and she is one of Britain's best-loved actresses and comediennes. Her autobiography looks set to be one of the big non-fiction books of the year. Born in 1950s Birmingham, daughter of an austere Irish Catholic mother and educated at a strict convent school she found her release in acting. Written with her characteristic wit and candour, she describes the highs and lows of her public and private life, with her daughter's diagnosis with leukaemia a particularly affecting episode. Major marketing and publicity campaign.