Sarah: My career’s peaked since Happy Valley
BAFTA STAR ON HER MID-LIFE CAREER BOOST
AS Corrie’s Ra Raquel Watts, Sarah Lancashire would never have be believed that the Valley best years of her career woul would start in her late fortie forties. But the actress who became a household name on the cobbles in her twenties admits middle age has been m magical for her. She’s won two TV BAFTAs in theth last three years, the latest a BestB Actress go gong last weeken weekend for her role as Sgt Cather Catherine Cawood in BBC cop dramad Happy Valley.Va That’s on her mantelpiece along with her 2014 BestBe Supporting Actress a award for series Last Tan Tango in Halifax. Now sh she says she feels more “v visible” in her professi profession than ever. “Two of the best roles I’ve eve ever had have happened i in my late 40s,” she said said. “I’m 53 this year. It starte started at 49 with Tango in Halifax and then HappyH Valley. I can’t c complain at a time wh when most actors are disappearing. I seem to have become very visible.”
Sarah’s big break came as Street barmaid Raquel in 1991 when she was 27. After a five-year run there she went on to star in TV series Where the Heart Is, thriller The Cry and Lark Rise to Candleford among others and also worked on the West End stage.
But the past five years have seen Sarah’s career hit new heights, beginning with Last Tango in Halifax.
She won her award last week for the anguished portrayal of a policewoman forced to raise her grandson after the death of her daughter. Sarah hopes her new found success can push through positive change for older women.
Strength
She said: “Age affects us all in the workplace. We all get a little less appealing as we get older, unfortunately. “We should gather strength from the fact that the climate is looking very promising for women.
“But it’s very early days, and too soon to celebrate.”
Life hasn’t been easy for the Oldham-born star who has battled depression since 17.
Now a mum-of-three, with two sons from her first marriage to Gary Hargreaves and a 12-year-old son with producer husband Peter Salmon, she even contemplated suicide twice during her darkest days – and had a nervous breakdown while on Corrie.
But she says meeting Peter, 61, has helped her recover.