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When you get into your 40s, the roles do tend to drop off, and I've seen it happening to friends of mine. Hopefully it is improving, and there are female TV executives now who are championing women of all ages in leading roles. But I'm not counting on it.

I want to do roles that take women a step farther. I don't want to be slotted into anything. But if I get a brilliant role which requires me to be a mother, then I will do it. But I want people to see that a woman could be anything at whatever age, even if she is married or has two kids.

There's a terrible truth for many women in the picture business: Aging typically takes its toll and means fewer and less desirable roles.

Females get hired along procreative lines. After 40, we're kind of cooked.

There's a small club of women who are willing to age.

There are not many roles where women are really active.

Women are frightening. If you get to 41 as a man, you're quite battle-scarred.

There's still a massive inequality between the genders. If you look at the trajectory of a male actor's career, there's no hesitation or hiatus. But women after the age of 35 to 40 are rarely placed in the centre of the story.

Women's lives get more interesting the older they get. For some reason, when you hit 35, it turns into a grey area filmically. There's not much more until you start playing grannies. I'm not ready for that. I'm just naffed off that, between 35 and 50, there aren't better things about.

As a society, I think older women are marginalized, but I think that has changed so much in the last twenty years.