Amanda Redman hits the gym to conquer TV ageism

Amanda Redman hits the gym to conquer TV ageism (Image credit: Wall to Wall)

Amanda Redman has confessed she fears being axed because of her age. The 49-year-old New Tricks actress claims the entertainment industry is all about being young and beautiful for women. Amanda told the Daily Mirror: "I don't stop worrying about it; in our industry there is never going to be anything other than young and beautiful. "That is great, but there is room for the rest of us. People do get interesting as they get older! "It is all very good being in New Tricks and for as long as that goes on, that is fine. Outside the roles are not there." Amanda revealed her fear of ageing and her desperate quest to keep being cast means she endures a punishing fitness regime. "I do go to the gym every day. I do three hours every day," she said. "I do get addicted and I hate it, but I go because I have to. As you get older, TV becomes more difficult. "The shots of your arms, tops and lines are magnified. It is not how you see yourself in the street." But Amanda, who plays Superintendent Sandra Pullman in the sixth series of New Tricks added: "Working on the show is marvellous and this new series is the best ever - it is the happiest job I have ever worked on."

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix.

An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.