Julie Graham, a Scottish actress known for her roles in TV shows such as Benidorm, says that streaming services are better at casting a diverse range of actors than traditional broadcasters.
Talking to the PA news agency, Graham shared her view that society is better reflected in the programming of streaming services, such as Amazon, Netflix and Now.
She commented: “We need to knock down all those walls of those kind of terrible tropes where it has to be a man of a certain age in the lead and everyone kind of fills in the gaps. If you keep casting middle-aged white men in everything on the television then everyone’s going to turn off in their droves. I wouldn’t pay to see that. It doesn’t reflect society, it doesn’t reflect who we are any more.
“There’s still a huge lack of roles for women over 45 and there’s still a disparity between the amount of actors on the screen and the amount of actresses on the screen.”
Graham said that actresses normally experience a “plateau” in their careers between the ages of around 45 and 55. “The parts dry up and then when you get towards 66 they start coming back again, because you get cast as somebody’s granny or they need old people in the show.”
Graham is currently starring in female-led series Queens of Mystery on new UK streaming service, Acorn TV.She says that the new show “can prove that audiences do want to see women in lead roles and they do want to see women over a certain age.”
