UNBELIEVABLE: Corrie’s Sherrie Hewson causes division as she criticises British TV’s portrayal of older people

Former Coronation Street and Benidorm star Sherrie Hewson has expressed her anger at the way older people are treated on television. Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk the 75-year-old said she is passionate about raising awareness about this issue and expressed her disdain at the fact TV and advertising bosses seem to think people are “past it” from the age of 55 upwards.

“Oh, my God, this country drives me crazy,” she fumes over Zoom. “People who are 55 plus, 65 plus, they’re free from their children. They’re free from the grandchildren. They want to go out there and live a life. They want to go on a cruise. They want to climb mountains, ski, meet somebody, fall in love, and have sex. But you don’t see that on television. We’ve got bloody funerals and cremations,” she said, citing an ad that frequently runs for a funeral home featuring a couple in their 50s.

“I don’t know why in this country, we stick (age) labels on people’s heads. We put numbers on their foreheads. You never go to Spain and get asked how old you are. I just think I get so incensed about this. Older people want romance. They want fun. I can’t believe that we treat people like this in this country, and I get very, very passionate about it, because it’s been like this from day one.

“My mother died at 89, and she had a 45-year-old boyfriend. It never crossed her mind that she was a label and that she was a number. And that’s what I can’t bear. What we do in this country, and it’s mainly in this country.

“It never occurs to somebody who writes these shows and adverts that people over a certain age still want to be alive. They want to do things until the day they die,” she continued.

Sherrie, who cites Benidorm as having the best-written and most well-rounded older characters, practices what she preaches and said she refuses to age herself for a role. When asked if she has been offered any part that would reinforce the “elderly” stereotype, she shakes her head. “They know what they are getting with me,” she said, although she did admit she has had to explain her aesthetic to makeup artists on occasion.

“I’ll be sitting in the chair and I’ll tell them I’d like some eyelashes and they look at me. What? Women my age don’t wear eyelashes? And I tell them to slap the makeup on. I get the lipstick on. Just because I’m of a certain age doesn’t mean I can’t do and wear certain things.

“I wouldn’t wear a mini skirt or a shirt chopped down to my navel. I’m not stupid, but I’ll go for it. I’ll wear fabulous clothes, and I’ll get out there and out dance till one or two o’clock in the morning. Why would you stop?” she asked.

Her remarks came as the Freeview channel Great! TV revealed the results of a study they commissioned titled The Upper Third. It indicated that over a quarter of audiences feel overlooked by contemporary television producers despite consuming more content than any other demographic.

The Great!, network, which encompasses Great! TV, Great! Action, Great! Mystery, and Great! Romance – is relaunching specifically for audiences who feel abandoned by mainstream television, focusing on beloved and timeless, premium-quality series and films.