TV Shows about Old Women Kicking Ass

They're not even all British.

I started keeping track of shows that center older women back in 2020 when television was a weird quasi-lifeline to human engagement. Given what's happening now with vaccine research and the possibility of a zoonotic crossover of bird flu to humans (can you tell I'm not an optimist?), we could soon be the stars of a real-life rerun and spend more time at home by the electronic hearth, a la 2020.

So just in case, I wanted to share the shows that got me through that first pandemic year: series that feature strong mature women and may provide a laugh or two. Not surprisingly, many programs that showcase feisty crones are British. How appealing is a society that values the power of older women? I could live in England. I know how to make fish pie.

But all was not lost here in the US, where shows about older women played very well back in the 2021 Emmys. Kate Winslet, who insisted that the camera show her midlife belly in her sex scene in Mare of Easttown, took home a statue for her role as the lead character. Another midlife actress, Hannah Waddingham, won for her compelling supporting role in the comic series Ted Lasso (though, to be fair, Waddingham is an English stage actress, and the show is set in England).

But whatever their provenance, please check out these great shows to watch even if you get sick of watching—while you're sick. If that happens. Fingers crossed.

Sex Education features Gillian Anderson (“the truth is out there”) as a beautiful post-midlife sex therapist with commitment issues and a teenage son. Ms. Anderson is such a joy. Her every move conveys barely contained sexual energy, and her attempts at intimate relationship are touching. Meanwhile her son, who absorbed lots of information about sex while growing up with his therapist mother, launches his own informal sex therapy practice in an abandoned building at the high school. The poignant results make for great television.

Cold Feet is a long-running British series that began telling the tales of three young couples in the 1990s. After a hiatus of more than a decade, the show resumed in 2016 with the same cast, now well into middle age. The wise passion of women in later life is a driving force of the later seasons in this comic/dramatic series. The characters change partners, face life-changing illness, and maintain their lifelong bond of friendship with honesty and humor. Fay Ripley (Jenny) plays a woman dealing with breast cancer with touching candor while Hermione Norris (Karen) guards her independence in a most engaging way. The children of these couples are teens in the latest series; the next generation discovers sex and their parents never forgot about it.

New Tricks is a BBC series about a woman detective who manages a squad of four retired male detectives in the London Metropolitan Police Department. Their charge is to reopen and solve cold cases from years earlier, some of which the men worked on themselves when the cases were fresh. On revisiting the cases, they bring the full weight of their wisdom and experience to bear. In contrast with the grit and gristle of many detective series, New Tricks is deliberately lighthearted. This works well, in part because the cases are from years earlier, and in part because the caliber of the acting is first rate. The show ran for twelve series and the cast changed over time, but the opening cast starring Amanda Redman as Detective Superintendent Sandra Redman was especially strong.

Hold the Sunset features Alison Steadman as Edith and John Cleese as Phil, her neighbor and admirer. The premise is that Phil wants to marry Edith and spend their retirement in a glamorous foreign locale. But just as Phil proposes, Edith’s middle-aged son moves back home and complicates matters. The son has just walked out on his wife and teenage children, clearly preferring the life of a deferred teen himself. The series is light and amusing, with a refreshing focus on the love lives of older people. The amorous pursuits of the younger generation are treated as an irritating side note.

By now, most of us know that Grace and Frankie is an American show starring Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin as older women whose husbands and business partners fall in love with each other. Theirs is an odd pairing of Fonda as a style queen and Tomlin as an aging hippie, and the development of their friendship is the driving force for the series. In the course of the series, the characters develop and launch a sex toy especially designed for older women, a refreshing twist indeed. The seven series of this show have earned critical and popular success.

If you are up for more serious television, Mare of Easttown is a great choice. Kate Winslet stars as a “middle-aged, imperfect, flawed mother,” as she described the role when she accepted her Emmy. Winslet’s character is a detective who knows everyone in her small Pennsylvania town—including the suspects in her cases. She balances police work with a complex family life, taking time to engage with her erotic nature as well. The show is a full portrait of a multifaceted woman.

Another serious detective series is Unforgotten, which slows down the process of solving a crime and spreads one case over half a dozen episodes. Experienced actress Nicola Walker stars as the serious and caring detective leading a team of younger officers. As in New Tricks, this team reopens cold cases, but the focus on helping families who have long been grieving for missing relatives lends this show a wonderful depth.

And for those of us who are perennial Betty White fans, there will always be Golden Girls, Hot in Cleveland, and Off their Rockers.

Since the pandemic, more shows have aired with older women stars. Check out Hacks, starring Jean Smart as an aging comedienne who gleefully torments her young protégée. And if you are a movie fan and haven't yet seen Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, you are in for a treat. This terrific movie stars Emma Thompson in a powerful, vulnerable role.

Please enjoy them all. And for more takes on great shows featuring older women, here are links to other folks’ lists.

https://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/slideshow/2514780/tv-shows-older-women/1/

https://www.film-fish.com/shows-featuring-older-people

https://www.cmsschicago.org/news-blog/our-favorite-tv-shows-featuring-older-actors/

Bottom line: Dust off your face mask and enjoy watching.

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I wrote a screenplay based on this novel years ago. Maybe I should dust that off too.

Meantime, you can buy this fun revenge story here.