Dame Helen Mirren is a huge fan of ‘Fleabag’ and admits she found Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s comedy liberating.
The 74-year-old actress is an avid viewer of the BBC series – which just won six Primetime Emmy Awards, including the prize for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Waller-Bridge – and she thinks it’s wonderful to see a show where a woman’s sexuality is fully on display and explored on screen, as she’s certain the programme would have been "banned" in the past.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Mirren said: "My God, I loved ‘Fleabag’, you can’t imagine. In the world that I grew up in, that would be banned on television. It would have been banned for pornography. What a change it is."
Mirren is famous for her erotic roles over the years and for being happy to strip off for scenes if the part required nudity appearing nude in 1979’s ‘Caligula’, de-robing in 1981 King Arthur adventure ‘Excalibur’ and even appearing topless at the age of 65 in ‘Love Ranch’.
The Oscar-winning actress’ new television drama ‘Catherine the Great’ sees her play the sexually liberated titular monarch who became the ruler of Russia after deposing her husband, Emperor Peter III.
Her reign from 1762 until her death in 1796 saw Russia become a major power in Europe and her private life was equally as impressive as she had a penchant for lavish parties and entertained a string of lovers, something which Mirren was happy to act out for the series.
She said: "Catherine was completely open, there was no shame about it. I could not get my head around that, growing up with a post-Edwardian, post-Second World War, Protestant attitude towards sexuality – and having played Elizabeth I, about whom even the slightest whiff of a sexual relationship would have been the end of her.
"I found it extraordinary, but the attitudes towards sex in the 18th century were, in many ways, far more liberated even than they are now. I think we’re still coming out of the Victorian age, in a way.
"Although the younger generation have a very different attitude compared to the world I grew up in. Female sexuality is far more accepted now. That has its drawbacks but in general I absolutely applaud that, I love it."
Mirren is also proud that ‘Catherine the Great’ shows that older women still have sex and can have the same passion as younger ladies.
Discussing the way television has previously treated sex among the older generation, Helen said: "If you did see it, it was something weird or unpleasant or to be laughed at or something.
"That’s the way they put you down, you see. Women fighting for their rights are treated as if they’re weird, as if they’re funny, and that’s how they crush you, how they stop you."
Dame Helen Mirren is a Fleabag fan
