WE SHOULD GIVE ELDERLY THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE SAY TV STARS
STARS of the reality television hit The Real Marigold Hotel have criticised the “lack of respect” for the elderly in Britain.
Actresses Patti Boulaye and Miriam Margolyes – who have both been honoured with OBEs – said they noticed the mistreatment of older people in the UK after filming in India.
Harry Potter star Miriam, 74, told how she hit out, literally, in protest at British society’s treatment of pensioners on her return.
She poured a bottle of water over a young man’s head after a clash where he refused to give up his seat for her on a crowded train platform. At the time she was carrying her luggage and hobbling in pain with an arthritic knee.
She said: “It’s hard being old, it’s horrible. So I just thought ‘**** you’ and I took my bottle of water out, took off the lid and poured it over his head.”
Miriam added: “It’s quite different in India – they respect old people and care for them.
“They give up their seats for them. It’s a much gentler environment for old people. And I’m old.”
The BBC Two show followed a group of celebri- ties in India to see if they can have a more enjoyable retirement than in the UK.
Patti, 61, said respect for senior citizens in the UK was disappearing because everyone wants to be young. She said: “The older people in India demand and deserve respect.
Comedy
“In England we demand but don’t deserve respect because everybody is trying to be 16; everybody is trying to be young.
“And I’m thinking, well, you’re the age you are and if you are the age you are, people respect you for that – instead of being the age you’re not.”
The documentary was based on the awardwinning British film comedy The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, starring Judi Dench, which saw a group of pensioners move to an Indian hotel.