Star Glenister berates TV bosses for giving older actresses ‘dowdy’ roles

ASHES To Ashes star Philip Glenister has hit out at TV bosses for pandering to younger viewers and for casting older women in “dowdy” roles.

In comments that would never have come from the mouth of his politically incorrect alter-ego Gene Hunt, Glenister, 48, criticised the way older women are portrayed on the small screen.

The star, who played tough-talking DCI Hunt in Life On Mars and its spin-off Ashes To Ashes, said that it was “much harder for actresses of a certain age”.

Asked whether he would swap roles with his wife, the 41-year-old X-Men: First Class actress Beth Goddard, Glenister said: “She is [gorgeous], I know.

“But too often if a woman is over a certain age, drama says you have to be dowdy, which is ludicrous. I don’t understand why people are desperate to get kids to watch TV – don’t forget them, obviously, but don’t pander to them either.

“Don’t forget your core audience.”

Glenister, who is starring as a down-on-his-luck solicitor in new BBC1 conspiracy thriller Hidden, said it had “been nice to see grown-up dramas” such as BBC1 psychological thriller Exile and BBC2 conspiracy theory drama The Shadow Line.

His comments come after Spooks actress Hermione Norris criticised the lack of decent roles for older actresses, saying: “When you get to my age, the conversations women have – the preoccupations, the frustrations, the grief – are never represented.”

In 2010, actresses Juliet Stevenson, Lesley Manville and Gemma Jones joined forces to criticise the “obsession” with “youth culture” in film, TV and theatre, and said that roles for mature actresses were “diminishing” and “deteriorating”.

Former newsreader Anna Ford has said older male presenters are still on screen but older women are not, while TV host Fern Britton has claimed presenters should accept a “natural end” to their screen careers.