Miranda Richardson hails Kay Mellor as a 'legend'

\'Girlfriends\' actress Miranda Richardson thinks she\'s working with a TV "legend" in Kay Mellor.

The British star appears alongside the likes of Zoe Wanamaker and Phyllis Logan in the new ITV series, which is written and directed by Kay, and Miranda is thankful to have been handed the opportunity.

Speaking on \'This Morning\' on Wednesday (10.01.18), Miranda explained: "She\'s a legend in her own time, as they say. This woman packs so much in a day, she\'s brimming with ideas.

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"She\'s always got five or six things on the go. And she is responding to her girlfriends in her own life, who are telling her things that she thinks, \'I have to write about this, they need to know about this.\'"

Miranda, 59, revealed that the new programme is a "passion project" for the award-winning director.

But in spite of the show\'s name and premise, Miranda insisted that Kay has also written good roles for male performers.

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The veteran star shared: "It\'s her passion project, she wanted to do it for so long, and three star roles for the women. And, honestly, not bad roles for the guys - honestly. Really, really not bad at all - they were happy to play second fiddle.

"It was a quality project, all set up in Leeds. Kay set up the first block and directed."

Meanwhile, Kay previously spoke of her excitement at making \'Girlfriends\'.

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She also said she was delighted to be working with so many accomplished performers.

Kay explained: "I\'m so looking forward to working with such a talented cast. It\'s fantastic that we\'ve got such high-calibre actors to play the three very different leading characters."