After Jane Horrocks moans Lily James & Keeley Hawes bag all best roles – are viewers getting tired of seeing same stars?

IT’S bad enough having to put up with endless repeats on the telly, but there is something else giving viewers deja vu – the leading ladies dominating our screens.

Absolutely Fabulous star Jane Horrocks claimed this weekend that Sarah Lancashire, Keeley Hawes, Olivia Colman and Lily James were making TV “dull” by taking all the good parts.



Lily James is one of four actresses Jane Horrocks reckons get all the good parts in TV


Keeley Hawes was another Horrocks picked out


Horrocks said: ‘There are a lot of actors out there who could bring something new to those roles’

She said: “There are a lot of actors out there who could bring something new to those roles.”

Is it just sour grapes – or could viewers be forgiven for getting a bit tired of seeing the same few faces on the box?

Our experts Ally Ross and Rod McPhee give their views.

To help you decide which of them you agree with, Georgette Culley has tallied up all the shows and films starring the actresses in the past five years.

LILY JAMES

Estimated net worth: £6.5million
Age: 33
Roles: 18

LILY recently revealed how she was pushed to her limits filming Pam & Tommy and told how it took four hours of make-up to recreate Pamela Anderson’s blonde bombshell look.



Lily James was pushed to her limits filming Pam & Tommy


She has also starred in The Pursuit of Love on BBC One

She also had a gruelling fitness regime with a personal trainer to get a Baywatch bod.

Lily said: “He would make me do all my work and read my script on a running machine.”

2022: Providence (filming), What’s Love Got To Do With It?, Sky Mobile advert, BareFace: A Night Of Mistakes (webisode), Pam & Tommy (Disney+).

2021: Beauty And The Beast panto for comic relief, The Pursuit Of Love (BBC1), The Dig (Netflix).

2020: Rebecca (Netflix film).

2019: Rare Beasts, Yesterday, One Red Nose Day And A Wedding, Miranda.

2018: Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, Little Woods, The Guernsey Literary And Potato Peel Pie Society, Sorry To Bother You.

2017: Darkest Hour, Baby Driver.



Lily has also been on our screens in Netflix’s 2020 film Rebecca

KEELEY HAWES

Estimated net worth: £2.5 million
Age: 46
Roles: 19

THE Line Of Duty star admitted she rarely turns down parts and doesn’t complain about “window-dressing” roles open to women.



Keeley Hawes starred alongside Richard Madden in The Bodyguard


She had a longstanding role in ITV’s The Durrells

She said: “I am a feminist, but I can’t bitch about something that I haven’t directly experienced.

“Of course, there are a lot of window-dressing roles and you make the best of what you can out of that.

“You are not going to turn work down when you have a family, when you have bills to pay, and you have to work.

“It would be all well and good to say, ‘I’m not going to work unless it’s some big, meaty part’, but you would sit there for ever. You would be down the dole office.”

2022: Stonehouse (upcoming ITV series), Crossfire (upcoming BBC series), The Midwich Cuckoos (Sky Max).

2021: Finding Alice (ITV), To Olivia, It’s A Sin (C4).

2020: Honour (ITV), Rebecca (Netflix), Misbehaviour.

2019: Year Of The Rabbit (C4), Summer Of Rockets (BBC2), Traitors (C4).

2018: Voiceover in Marbella Cruises ad, Mrs Wilson (BBC1), Bodyguard (2018-20, BBC1).

2017: Inside No. 9 (BBC2), Ford Fiesta ad.

2016: The Durrells (2016-2019, ITV).

2012: Line Of Duty (2012–2021, BBC1).



In 2020 she took a role in ITV’s Honour

SARAH LANCASHIRE

Estimated net worth: £14million
Age: 57
Roles: 10

AS an up-and-coming young actress, Sarah had to hide her crippling depression and exhaustion to bag acting roles.



Sarah Lancashire in BBC One’s Happy Valley


Sarah became a household name playing ditzy barmaid Raquel Wolstenhulme in Corrie from 1987 to 2000

Sarah, who became a household name playing ditzy barmaid Raquel Wolstenhulme in Corrie from 1987 to 2000, didn’t tell anyone about her struggles out of fear she would be left without work.

Sarah revealed: “I ended up in a terrible mess.

“My twenties were a write-off. I was too debilitated and terrified to tell anyone why I couldn’t get on a train from Manchester for auditions in London.”

At her lowest ebb she found herself “hysterical” at the thought of getting out of bed in the morning.

2022: Julia (Sky Atlantic).

2021: Everybody’s Talking About Jamie.

2020: Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads (BBC1).

2019: The Accident (C4), Yesterday, MotherFatherSon (BBC2).

2017: School of Roars (CBeebies).

2018: Kiri (C4).

2014: Happy Valley (BBC1, 2014-2022).

2012: Last Tango In Halifax (BBC1, 2012-2020).



In 2018 Sarah starred in Channel 4’s Kiri

OLIVIA COLMAN

Estimated net worth: £6.5million
Age: 48
Roles: 22

JUGGLING motherhood and acting can be a challenge – as Oscar-winner Olivia has discovered .



Juggling motherhood and acting can be a challenge – as The Crown star Olivia Colman has discovered


Last year she starred in Netflix’s The Lost Daughter

She revealed in an interview: “My family, I would die for them. But when they were smaller and I was exhausted, I had those moments of, ‘Just leave me alone for a minute’ or ‘Put the telly on’.

“And you felt bad, because you were that mummy who was trying to sleep on the floor.”

2022: Wicked Little Letters (in production), Great Expectations (upcoming BBC drama), Secret Invasion (upcoming Disney+ series), Joyride (in production), Puss In Boots: The Last Wish (animated film, due for release 2023), Heartstopper (Netflix).

2021: Superworm (BBC1 animated comedy), Landscapers (Sky Atlantic), The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain (Amazon Prime), The Lost Daughter, Mothering Sunday, Ron’s Gone Wrong (animated film), The Mitchells vs The Machines (animated Netflix film), The Father.

2020: Thomas & Friends Storytime (podcast), The Simpsons, Fleabag (BBC Three), The Crown (Netflix), The Favourite.

2019: Them That Follow.

2018: Les Misérables (BBC1), Watership Down (BBC1).



In 2020 she appeared on our screens in BBC Three’s Fleabag


Two years earlier, she was in BBC One’s Les Miserables