As Oscar-winning star Glenda Jackson returns to acting, she has criticised the lack of roles for women in films, something she finds "deeply, deeply depressing."
The one-time Labour MP stood down from her Hampstead and Kilburn constituency five months ago and will be heard in an English language radio adaptation of the 20-volume cycle Les Rougon-Macquart by French author Émile Zola in November.
Jackson, the star of movies such as A Touch of Class and Women in Love - she won Oscars for both films - criticises the lack of lead roles for female actors.
"What I’m seeing now is that actresses are complaining," she told The Observer. "We were complaining in exactly the same way 23 years ago, and even years before that. Where have been the remarkable new plays which have women as the driving engine as opposed to the adjunct for what is always, and inevitably, a male engine-driver? That hasn’t changed.
"That is what is deeply, deeply depressing. It was exactly the same when I was still earning my living in the theatre – and I have seen no improvement in that area at all."
Jackson played Elizabeth I in the much-acclaimed BBC mini-series Elizabeth R, and also played her in the film Mary, Queen of Scots.
Jackson cited Pedro Almodóvar, the Spanish director of Volver and All About My Mother as a welcome exception for portraying strong female characters in his films, "He is obsessed with women and his films are marvellous."
The first of the Zola adaptations will air on BBC Radio 4 in November.
