Katharine Mary Saunders was born on 4 May 1960 to an Anglo Catholic family in London, the eldest of six children.[1] Her father was public relations advocate Basil Saunders, and her mother was journalist Betty (née Smith) Saunders.[2][3] She was educated at the Camden School for Girls.[1]
Career
Television
Saunders worked as an actress through her twenties.[1] Her work included an appearance as a policewoman dated by Rodney Trotter in an Only Fools and Horses episode in 1982.[4] She was also a regular contributor to radio and television, with appearances on the Radio 4 programmes Woman's Hour, Start the Week and Kaleidoscope.[5] She was, with Sandi Toksvig, a guest on the first episode of the long-running news quiz programme Have I Got News for You.[6] The BBC children's series Belfry Witches was based on her series of children's books about two mischief-making witches.
Saunders married Philip Wells in 1985; they had a son and later divorced. Their son died by suicide when he was 19 years old.[1]
Saunders had multiple sclerosis. Her health declined in the years after her son's death, but she continued to write until the end of her life. She died from cancer at her home in Archway, London, on 21 April 2023, at the age of 62.[1][15]