Beacham: Plenty of roles around

Stephanie Beacham has dismissed claims there aren't enough decent roles around for older actresses.

Stars including Julie Walters and Stephanie's Bad Girls co-star Claire King have bemoaned the lack of decent roles for women over 40 on British television.

But Stephanie, who appears in the new series of Trollied on Sky1 HD, said: "Oh rubbish! I've done so many great things. I'm old and I'm playing a FABULOUS role.

"I've just played Pauline Collins' sister in Mount Pleasant. Sisters come in their 60s and 70s as well, so there's no reason why one can't go on working for ever.

"Human beings last as long as I will. I think we want to watch our own age, and a lot of people are older and not very interested in watching young people have their necks bitten."

The Dynasty star says a younger generation of viewers know her for appearing in Coronation Street as Ken Barlow's lover Martha Fraser.

She said: "To kids nowadays, I'm off Corrie and Bad Girls and Celebrity Big Brother because they weren't even born during the Dynasty years. You've got to keep current. Every year I make sure I am on the telly. You've just got to do it."

She's not been afraid of doing stints in reality TV, and her time in the Big Brother house was a success. "I adored it! I did a lot of yoga, an awful lot of eating white bread and nattering with Ivana Trump. It was great fun."

But she said Strictly Come Dancing was a mistake. "I've had more dresses made for me than Princess Diana did, so getting togged up didn't do it for me. The rest was very hard work and one of my best friends had just died so I didn't feel like dancing."

:: Stephanie Beacham appears in Trollied which returns to Sky1 HD on August 31.