'We come into our power and strength at 50 plus'

Actress Hermione Norris calls for fair representation of older women on screen as she celebrates a new channel showing some classic TV

- SUSAN LEE

She’s forever immortalised in telly history thanks to roles in Cold Feet, Drop The Dead Donkey and Wire In The Blood.

But far from wanting distance from that younger on-screen version of herself,

Hermione Norris is happy to embrace it – and the ageing process that goes with it.

Ostensibly she’s chatting to OK! about the launch of a new channel, Rewind TV, a kind of telly time machine set to bring back some familiar small-screen favourites – Drop The Dead Donkey included.

But, speaking on a chilly Monday morning from her home on a farm in Dorset, the mum-of-two is in a reflective mood about those early roles which made her a household name – and why now, at 57, she believes women “come into their power” in their later decades.

“It is a bit of a strange place to be, seeing yourself from 10 or 15 years ago but it is kind of my reality,” laughs Hermione, who was cast in her breakout role of Karen Marsden in Cold Feet back in 1998.

“Personally, I love seeing actors I’ve worked with throughout my career, or who I’ve admired and respected down the years, in old reruns of programmes like Miss Marple. I’m excited by that – there they are in different incarnations and in different chapters of their lives but still themselves. I think it’s great.

“And at the end of the day it’s a special thing to get older, after all.”

Ageing – and society’s attitude to older women in particular – is something which the London-born actress has forthright views about.

“I think ageing is a beautiful thing, particularly for women. We come into our power and strength at the age of 50 plus.