Zoe Wanamaker: TV roles are now great for older actresses

Zoe Wanamaker is thrilled that there are currently so many strong roles for "old ladies" on TV.

The 68-year-old actress - best known for her long-running role in BBC sitcom \'My Family\' - can currently be seen in Kay Mellor\'s ITV drama \'Girlfriends\' and Sky\'s new historical epic \'Britannia\'.

Zoe thinks it\'s great that she\'s so in-demand as she pushes 70 and thinks it\'s great that writers are creating programmes with mature women at the forefront.

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Speaking to the Daily Mirror newspaper, she said: "It\'s changed so much for \'old ladies\'. Men in the business have taken this idea and been smart and run with it. It\'s important."

Zoe plays two very different parts as the warrior queen Antedia in \'Britannia\' and stressed out matriarch Gail in \'Girlfriends\', but she is ambitious for as many diverse roles as possible.

Speaking about her ambitions for the future, she said: "I just don\'t know what they are yet. You just see what turns up. I\'m lucky and privileged to be able to say that ... It\'s great to do different things, things that interest you not just as an artist but as a human being. It\'s great to be frightened or nervous of something or fascinated.

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"[\'Britannia\'] is fantastic. This is the first epic I\'ve done. I\'d never done special effects, things being blown up. That was exciting."