Lena’s story is the stuff of fairy tales…or full -blown nightmares

She was the unique expertise present star. And one of many youngest ­performers to be chewed up and spat out by the leisure trade. No marvel even 1 / 4 of a century after her loss of life, amid the rise of teenybopper influencers, actuality TV and social media, Lena Zavaroni’s tragedy stays a cautionary story in regards to the risks of fame.

The Scottish singer gained TV’s Opportunity Knocks expertise present 5 weeks on the bounce in 1974 – finally, they needed to stand her down to present another person an opportunity. Then, aged 10, she turned the youngest individual in historical past to have an album within the UK Top 10.

Later, she starred in her personal TV collection. But, from the age of 13, she suffered from anorexia nervosa, growing medical despair at 15. Following an operation, she died from pneumonia in October 1999 aged­ simply 35.

Now, actor-turned-playwright Tim Whitnall has written her story, which is able to debut on the Edinburgh Festival from August 3. He’s higher positioned than most to inform her story, having been a toddler star himself.

Tim was simply 16 when he landed the function of the teenage Elvis within the West End musical of the star’s life in 1977. Shakin’ Stevens performed the King as a younger grownup and PJ Proby the older model.

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“I had no grounding in show business,” says Tim, now 61. “It plunged me into this very adult, totally unfamiliar world. I’ll never forget it.

“I was at school in Suffolk on the Friday evening, and then I moved to my uncle’s place in Woodford Green, Essex. By the Monday morning, I was on the London Underground for the first time in my life, heading to the theatre, my face plastered over the front page of every newspaper.

“Luckily, I came from a very strong family so, although I was only a teenager, I had the right values in place. That said, I look back now and shudder to realise just how naïve and vulnerable I must have been.”

One can solely guess, he says, on the whole sea change skilled by Lena whose ­household lived on the Isle of Bute, off Scotland’s west coast, the place her dad, Victor, owned a fish ’n’ chip store. “It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like for her moving from ­ a remote Scottish island to ­living in Mayfair and appearing on national television every week.

“It’s the stuff of fairy tales – or full-blown nightmares. It was only as an adult that I realised the price she paid for her stardom: you get what you want but you lose what you had.”

Lena was found by file producer Tommy Scott. While on vacation in Bute, he walked previous the chippie at some point and heard her ­singing. He had produced data by Van Morrison, the Bachelors, ­ the Dubliners. So, he walked in – and the ­­relaxation is historical past.

Whitnall, who gained a Bafta for his TV film on Kenny Everett and an Olivier for his play based mostly on the lifetime of Eric Morecambe, insists he tried his utmost to have fun the lifetime of Lena whereas not ducking her darkish facet.

That darkness rapidly developed into an consuming dysfunction, not helped by public scrutiny. One well-known newspaper headline learn: “Opportunity Knocks The Pounds Off Lena!” There’s additionally a well-known Terry Wogan interview, recollects Tim, through which he’s discussing Lena’s weight reduction.

“Soon,” says Terry, “you’ll be back to your normal chubby self!” It will get worse. Presenter Frank Bough as soon as requested her on nationwide TV if ­anorexia helped her lower down on restaurant payments. “You’d lose your job for that these days,” Whitnall factors out.

Host of Opportunity Knocks was the oleaginous Hughie Green who, some may assume, must share some blame for what occurred to Lena. Whitnall disagrees.

“No, I think it’s the machine rather than particular individuals that contributed to her downfall,” he continues. “It was a perfect storm. There was this child, a diamond in the rough, with an incredible talent but with an undeniable, innate flaw. And extreme fame rarely sits well on the very young.

“When I was writing this play, I spoke to ­ Alex Yellowlees, a ­consultant psychiatrist at the Priory Clinic, and he made an interesting point.

“If you take a child on the edge of puberty and you change them, they stay changed forever. Take a nine or 10-year-old girl and stick her in the ­spotlight and you can have serious problems.

“If that spotlight is the school playground that can be difficult enough. But, if it’s the public spotlight, then that’s very different. It’s there forever. Look what the Hollywood studio system did to Judy Garland. She was playing Dorothy, as it were, way beyond her teenage years.

“Fine if you’re tough but if you’re vulnerable – like Amy Winehouse or Caroline Flack or Susan Boyle – the outcome can be ­dangerous and unpredictable. There was additional pressure for Lena to remain artificially young. I think she ­must have hated the baby doll dresses ­and ringlets.”

At six, Bonnie Langford gained Opportunity Knocks and later befriended the equally precocious Lena, her actual modern. Their trajectories have been to diverge dramatically as Lena’s well being deteriorated. Lena ended up having neurosurgery, however pneumonia set in and she or he died weighing little greater than 4 stone.

Langford pays tribute to her outdated buddy. “She told me she had to get rid of what she called the black spot in her head,” she says. “What happened ­to her was ­undeniably tragic but I ­remember her as very funny, very naughty and hugely talented. Sadly, she’s forever defined as a victim. But that was far from her whole story.”

Starring within the title function of the brand new play is Erin Armstrong, who says she’d by no means heard of Lena Zavaroni when she was invited to audition.

“My mum and dad immediately knew who she was but I was only four when she died,” she explains.

“So, I did a bit of research and, increasingly, she really resonated with me. She obviously had star quality with a real gift for conveying deep emotion in a song, despite her age. Hers was a phenomenal talent but she was a normal girl from a normal background.”

Except, ultimately, she didn’t have the stability to handle extreme fame. “It’s a hard industry,” says Armstrong, 27, familiar to TV audiences thanks to roles in Shetland and Emmerdale.

“But she also clearly had a flaw. It’s the old argument of nature versus nurture. Was it the environment or her genetics? Probably, a combination of the two. She was a child thrust into an adult world. And I don’t feel she was adequately protected, which must have had an impact on her sense of self.”

But would the sad arc of Lena’s life be the same if she were a 10-year-old star today? “I think we’re better now at talking about mental health,” Armstrong adds. “But, set against that, there’s been the explosion in social media and the insidious effect that can have.”

Armstrong herself travelled to America when she was just 18 in search of work. “I remember one ­casting director telling me I ought to lose weight to increase my chances of getting roles,” she says. “I didn’t take any notice but it proves that that sort of thing still goes on.”

Playing Hughie Green is the famous impressionist Jon Culshaw who believes it’s unfair to blame the Opportunity Knocks host for Lena’s tragic demise.

“He was certainly a pretty slick operator,” says Culshaw. “But I don’t think that what happened to Lena was his fault. That was down to the all-consuming nature of the entertainment industry which can sometimes be guilty of not taking enough care of anyone vulnerable.

“Nowadays, the explosion in social media represents a new challenge. The individual comments can flock together almost like a starling murmuration of opinion and it’s easy to get spooked by it.

“You have to work extra hard to turn away from the shallow ideas of what it is to be ­perfect and beautiful and rejoin the real world. And, if you’re 10 years old, you need wise people around you.”

Culshaw never ­­met Lena but recalls seeing her with Les Dawson on her 1981 TV show.

“What struck me was the humour and warmth between them. It was lovely seeing her full of laughter. The play is very good at showing that side of her.

“The bother was – and maybe nonetheless is – that present enterprise is a hungry, unforgiving beast. You’re singing for the US President? You’re on the Royal Variety Show? You mustn’t ever be lower than excellent. That exerts an enormous quantity of strain.”

Working on this play, Culshaw has been in a position to research Lena’s character in depth.

“I think she’s adorable,” he says. “What a voice! What incredible stage presence! She was a real trouper, a true professional. So, it was a real tragedy that it ended as it did.”

Had Lena survived, she can be of a ­related age to Culshaw now.

“I’ve just celebrated my 55th birthday. I realised the other day that Lena would have been 60 in November had she lived. That seems terribly sad.”

• Lena is at Assembly: Gordon Aikman Theatre, Edinburgh, from August 3 to twenty-eight