Lack of older women on TV 'a fact'

BBC presenter Kate Humble says she will not protest if her career ends when she reaches a certain age - because the absence of older women on TV is a "fact".

Several figures, including Anna Ford, Selina Scott and Dame Joan Bakewell have criticised broadcasters on the issue, accusing them of banishing older women from the small screen.

However ex-Springwatch host Kate - who presents new BBC Two series Orbit: Earth's Extraordinary Journey - told the Radio Times she is being offered "wonderful stuff" right now, but that she accepts that her TV career would not last indefinitely.

"If I get to the stage where I'm not being offered that stuff and it's a choice of being on the telly or on the farm (in Monmouthshire which she now runs), the farm would win every time," the 43-year-old said.

"The reality is I'm either not going to want telly or telly is not going to want me. I'm not going to start sobbing into my beer because I'm getting older and old women don't get on the telly. It's just a fact."

Her comments come after BBC director-general Mark Thompson admitted earlier this month that there are not enough older women on TV.