Hodge: Not enough older women roles

Patricia Hodge says Dame Judi Dench, Dame Maggie Smith and Vanessa Redgrave are offered the plum roles for older women - but there are not enough parts for everyone else.

The 66-year-old actress - who plays Miranda's mother in Miranda Hart's eponymous BBC comedy - says the three actresses will always get work.

According to The Daily Telegraph, Patricia, speaking about roles for older women, told an audience at the Cheltenham Literary Festival: "It is very difficult for us who are in this age group to talk about it because it makes you sound like an embittered old woman.

"Judi Dench, Vanessa Redgrave and Maggie Smith are on a level where they will always get work because whatever is on offer will go to them first.

"They are a band of angels up there who are ascending to heaven and are untouchable.

"But for everyone else there is not nearly enough representation - but you can't create it overnight. Even if you asked every playwright in the country to write a play for older women it still wouldn't be enough.

"I think it needs to grow, that realisation that there is a whole section of our community which is under represented."

Patricia said she was proud to be a part of Miranda, a show that is co-written, produced and directed by women and has four strong female characters.