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.
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.
Read more on Jane Horrocks
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.
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.
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.
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).
