Sarah Lancashire has praised the TV industry for creating more roles for actresses aged over 35.
The 50-year-old star – who won a Best Drama Series award at the BAFTAs on Sunday (10.05.15) for the BBC drama ‘Happy Valley’ – said it’s "brilliant" TV shows are involving older women and observed that "female-led" plotlines are popular at the moment.
Sarah said: "It’s a strong time for female-led stories, so fortunately what’s happening is that we are all crawling out of the woodwork and taking these fantastic leading roles.
"It’s brilliant and it really is about time. The good thing is that it’s women of a certain age, so it’s very exciting.
"I’m absolutely certain that audiences want to see older women on their TVs. I suppose at the role of women in life evolves, the drama has to evolve with it. Maybe that’s what we’re seeing now."
However, the ‘Last Tango in Halifax’ star still thinks there’s progress that needs to be made on the issue of diversity.
Sarah told The Sun newspaper: "The roles do get fewer as you get older. That’s the same for all professions, there’s fewer roles for people later in life.
"I don’t think it should be like that because as long as you are able to do your job then people should keep working with you. It shouldn’t come down to age."
Sarah Lancashire: It’s brilliant older actresses are getting roles
