Lynda La Plante savages ‘same old faces’ on TV

PRIME Suspect creator Lynda La Plante is fed up with seeing the same actors in endless TV shows.

‘I enjoy watching British crime dramas like Happy Valley, but I wish more actors were cast in leading roles,’ says La Plante, who also wrote Widows and Trial And Retribution.

‘It tends to be the same old faces over and over again. We have so much talent, and yet programme makers here seem obsessed with casting the same few actors. In the U.S., they’re not afraid to use new faces.’

In what may prove a timely illustration of her point, ITV announced yesterday that the new star of its hit period drama Victoria would be Martin Compston, aka DS Steve Arnott from BBC crime series Line Of Duty.