Superhero comedy co-written by Jonathan Ross’s wife is box office smash

She has spent 22 years in the shadow of Britain's most popular TV presenter. But now Jane Goldman, the wife of Jonathan Ross, is rapidly catching him up after her film Kick-Ass topped the box office charts in the US.

As Mr Ross's career takes a breather, Mrs Ross has stepped into the breach with her blockbuster comedy.

Kick-Ass, which she co-wrote, took $19.8 million (£13 million) in its first weekend in America, beating animated adventure How To Train Your Dragon which took $19.6 million. The feat was all the more impressive as How To Train Your Dragon is 3D, with its premium ticket prices pushing up takings.

Film experts claim Kick-Ass, adapted from a comic book of the same name, is the best debut for its genre; albeit in the niche category of live-action superhero comedy. US ticket sales push its global gross takings to £24 million.
Goldman, 39, was forced to defend the film when it was released in the UK last month, after a furore over the character of a foul-mouthed girl assassin aged 11. The character, Hit-Girl, slices off people's legs and shoots bullets through a man's cheek. In one scene, Hit-Girl — played by 13-year-old American Chloe Moretz — screams at victims: "Okay, you c***s, let's see what you can do now."

Goldman said: "It's a movie you know, it's not real life. It's not a movie for kids, it's not something kids should see."

Jonathan Ross, 49, has been keeping a low profile after it was decided his BBC contract will not be renewed when it runs out this summer. He is understood to have been in talks with broadcasters including Sky One and Channel 4.

The couple met at Stringfellows nightclub in Covent Garden when Goldman was a 16-year-old music columnist for the Daily Star. They married when she was 18 in 1988 and Goldman put her career on hold to have a family. The couple have three children: Betty Kitten, 18, Harvey Kirby, 16, and Honey Kinny, 13 and live in Hampstead.

She was born in Hammersmith and attended private King Alfred School. She was a wild child in her mid-teens, going clubbing carrying a fur-lined
kettle as a handbag.

She has just written the screenplay for Helen Mirren's next film, The Debt, and is adapting Susan Hill's classic horror story, The Woman In Black.