‘Outlook improving’ for older actresses

LESLEY MANVILLE has said she feels there has been a “shift” and that the TV and film industry is improving for older actresses.

The 61-year-old Oscar nominee, inset, is returning for a second series of BBC Two sitcom Mum, about a suburban woman who attempts to move on from her husband’s death.

Manville said that she thinks viewers warmed to her relatable and loveable character Cathy because of how she was written by the show’s creator Stefan Golaszewski, but also because of how things are improving for older characters on screen.

Manville told reporters: “I think there is a feeling now, and I have been saying it for about five years – and sometimes people think I’m just saying it because things are all right for me and my career – but I think it’s getting better for older women.” Manville praised stars such as Meryl Streep, Dame Helen Mirren and Annette Bening for how they portray older women. Manville said that being nominated for an Oscar in the supporting actress category for her role in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread, in which she starred alongside Daniel Day-Lewis, felt “extraordinary”. She told the Radio Times : “I wasn’t expecting it. I knew I’d been in the running but judging from the Press it’s clear that I was the surprise nomination. So I think I got in there by the skin of my teeth.” Mum returns to BBC Two at 10pm on Tuesday, February 20.