Shameless star Tina Malone a mum at 50

(Image credit: JFORD)

Tina Malone has announced that she's become a mum again.

Baby girl Flame arrived two weeks before the star's New Year's Eve due date, the Daily Mirror reported.

The Shameless actress, who already has a daughter in her 30s, wrote on Twitter: "Proud to announce the arrival of our BABY GIRL, cant wait to spend xmas as a family.xxxx"

Tina has been married to Paul Chase, who is 19 years her junior, for three years. They announced in February that they were beginning IVF treatment.

Tina announced that she was pregnant with twins in June, but Flame's unborn sibling died the following month.

Meanwhile, Tina will be fronting an hour-long programmein February looking at the challenges of becoming a mother at the age of 50.

The TLC documentary, Pregnant At 50, follows the actress through her pregnancy and childbirth, and the issues that women face when using the IVF process at a mature age.

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.