Tracy Ann Oberman: Soaps have had best roles for older women

Former ‘EastEnders’ star Tracy Ann Oberman says soaps have always led the way in creating strong roles for older women on screen.
The 53-year-old actress portrayed Chrissie Watts, the long-suffering second wife of legendary Albert Square villain ‘Dirty’ Den Watts (Leslie Grantham), from 2004 to 2005 and the culmination of their storyline saw Chrissie murder her husband in the show’s 20th anniversary special episode, which was watched by 14.34 million viewers.
Tracy has watched with interest the effect the #MeToo movement has had on the acting business with more female directors succeeding in the industry and better roles for middle-aged actresses being written but she insists British soaps, in particular the BBC series, have always had wonderful parts for female performers.
In an interview with The Daily Telegraph newspaper, she said: "Some of the best-drawn middle-aged women were seen through soap. Dot Cotton, Pat Butcher, Pauline Fowler … They’re really great women.
"But whatever phase you’re going through, women are much more supportive of one another now. It’s really empowering."
Chrissie’s time in Walford ended when she was arrested for Den’s murder when trying to flee the UK and the character has been in prison ever since.
Tracy is remaining tight-lipped on whether or not she is interested in a return to ‘EastEnders’ but she joked that Chrissie still has a long time behind bars ahead of her anyway.
The ‘Friday Night Dinner’ star – who is married to music producer Rob Cowan, with whom she has a 13-year-old daughter – quipped: "The tragedy of Chrissie is that she didn’t have a good enough lawyer. She could have pleaded self-defence for mental abuse. She has spent more time in prison than most murderers."
Away from her acting career Tracy, along with ‘Countdown’ presenter Rachel Riley, is taking legal action against 70 people for libel in response to the abuse they have posted to the famous pair on Twitter and she fully believes it is important for them to take a stand against the trolls.
Tracy – who has been subjected to terrible Anti-Semitism online due to her Jewish heritage – said: "We’re living through really difficult, dangerous, provocative, horrifying times. Every day, my mouth drops further and further … It got to the point where I couldn’t allow libels to hang around on social media. There have to be real-life repercussions to what you post."