Woman's Hour - 02/11/2009

With Jane Garvey. Martine McCutcheon started her career as a six-week-old baby, when her photo was used for a national political poster campaign. She went on to play the part of the much loved Tiffany in EastEnders, won a best actress Olivier Award for her role in Trevor Nunn's My Fair Lady, and starred in Richard Curtis's film Love Actually. She also forged a successful music career with a number one single and album. Now she has brought out her first novel, The Mistress. Martine joins Jane to discuss her newest venture. Why turn to writing? What was her inspiration? And what's next for the ex-soap star? Applications to take children into care have risen by 47 per cent since last year say recent figures published by Cafcass, the organisation that represents children's interests in the family courts. So what is behind this enormous increase and what needs to be done to support a family justice system already under great strain, responsible for supporting some of the youngest and most vulnerable in our society? Jane is joined by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Young People and Families Baroness Dyleth Morgan, Anthony Douglas, chief executive of Cafcass, and children's solicitor Christina Blacklaws. More than 10,000 people in the UK currently need an organ transplant, and of these, 1,000 die every year before they receive an organ. Last year 28-year-old singer-songwriter Sarah Springett donated one of her kidneys to her boyfriend Paul Shepherd after his kidney condition worsened. As the NHS launches a new campaign to encourage more people to sign the Organ Donor Register, Woman's Hour talks to Sarah and Paul about their experience, and to their consultant and NHS organ transplant czar Chris Rudge. And Grace Nichols's poetry has been described as 'rich in music, but also grit and earthy honesty'. The novelist Jeannette Winterson admires her work for 'its wit, acidity and tenderness'. Grace explains what drew her to write about Picasso's muse, Dora Maar, in her latest collection, Picasso, I Want My Face Back, and why she wants to celebrate the power of laughter.