Home Fires' Clare Calbraith keeps up fight for better on-screen female representation

But as the hit show reaches the climax of its second series, star Clare Calbraith says the fight for older actresses is far from over.

“It is getting better and there are more female-led dramas,” Clare, 42, told iN10.

“But there are probably more men than women in the cast.

“When I started in Heartbeat I think there were 10 men and two girls.

“And for every good script there will still be 10 scripts where the women are poorly represented.

“As an actress you’re every much aware that you’re often someone’s wife. The adventure is someone else’s and the women have awful things happen to them.

“Even though the tide is changing, there’s still a long way to go.”

Clare Calbraith as Steph Farrow (ITV/ Home Fires)

With Samantha Bond, Francesca Annis, Ruth Gemmell and other acclaimed stars very much leading the way in Home Fires, Clare’s quick to excuse the series from criticism.

In general, though, she insists it can be a slog.

“I know that 42 is very much not young any more.

“Men in their 40s and 50s will still be having good, chunky roles.

“I’m aware that there are 20 years of actresses behind me getting fantastic roles. Good for them – there should be brilliant roles in every age group.

“But while I’d have to say I’ve had better parts as I’ve gotten older, there are definitely fewer of those roles there.”

Clare, who plays Steph Farrow in Home Fires, has become something of a fixture on our Sunday night TV screens.

Apart from her Heartbeat days, which, remarkably, were some 15 years and more ago, she also starred in Downton Abbey and more recently Vera.

Other than Vera they were period dramas, with grimness wrapped up in an overall comfort blanket, and she reckons they are what we want as we get ready for another week of work.

But she knows there are no guarantees in the cutthroat world of TV.

“Making the first series of Home Fires was so lovely I thought it was all too good to be true and it’d probably be a complete flop.

“You really just never know. There was a wonderful series called Our Zoo last year which I thought had all the ingredients to be a huge success.

“But for some reason it just didn’t work.

“I knew it was a good show and when it didn’t come back, that terrified me.

“We’re all at the mercy of networks and politics and money.”

Heartbeat was one of Clare’s first jobs out of drama school and since then she’s popped up in both EastEnders and Corrie as well as crime favourites Midsomer Murders and Silent Witness.

But she refreshingly admits that the casting process is still both a nightmare and a lottery.

“You have to park your dignity at the door – I think I lost my self-respect somewhere in 1999,” laughs Clare.

“It’s difficult and there’s just something embarrassing about doing an audition.

“I’ve come out thinking I’ve absolutely nailed it and never heard anything again. And I’ve come out of others – like Home Fires – feeling down about how bad it had gone and then you get it.”

While Clare loved getting back into WI life on screen, she says it hasn’t tempted her into joining for real.

“Where I live in East Dulwich in London there’s a waiting list as it’s so popular,” she reveals. “I knew very little about the WI before I did the series and felt it was something for middle-class women with too much time on their hands.

“I can see the attraction now but it’s still not something I can see myself doing.”

What Clare can see herself doing is chilling out a bit more with her tattooist partner Nick – and, no, she hasn’t let him practise his handiwork on her.

“Nick would say I’m rubbish at unwinding, so I’m trying very hard this year to go on holiday and just relax.

“I’m always busy DIY-ing or doing something else.”

Home Fires, ITV, Sunday, 9pm.

Home Fires star Francesca Annis is looking to break down barriers