Age makes us more interesting

Sitting on the stage at the British Film Institute on London’s South Bank during promotion for her new Channel Four drama Truelove, it’s hard to believe that Sue Johnston is about to turn 80.

Wearing a sequined silver top and slim-fitting, grey trousers, and with her shiny, honey-coloured highlighted hair cut into a fashionable bob, she looks uber-glamorous and a good 10 years younger. And speaking of the age thing, Sue’s not happy that older people are pigeonholed and subject to stereotyping – especially those that have been married for a long time.

“Younger people don’t tend to think that older people are interesting,” she says. “You’re just gran and grandad or Mr and Mrs whatever.

“It’s as if you’ve stopped being people, but having lived as long as we have, we’ve seen so much and led huge, interesting lives. We each have a fascinating back story. My agent said to me the other day, ‘No more playing old ladies in bed, Sue’.

“Watching TV at times, you’d think this inevitably happens to old people. But that’s not the case. We haven’t stopped being the people we were and we haven’t stopped living our ives.

“We don’t live our lives thinking we’re going to die but yet we’re living at a time when we are losing many of our friends. Every so often, the shock of the reality of death confronts you, and you realise you’re going to far more funerals than weddings.”

Sue feels that society tends to shy away from talking about death.

“There’s something that stops us from addressing it, but we should talk about it more openly. I’m hoping that’s what Truelove is doing – addressing contentious topics and getting people talking.”

There’s never been a series like Truelove. For those who have yet to see the show, it’s a unique spin on a cat and mouse thriller, centering on a group of older friends who make a pact that, if and when the time comes, rather than let each other suffer a dreadful decline they will engineer a more dignified death as a sign of “truelove”.

However, when an intrepid young police officer discovers that there is more to this group of retirees than meets the eye, events soon take a surprising and dangerous turn.

Sue plays a character called Marion.

“Marion is a housewife and hasn’t worked for many years,”