Thanks to my parents introducing me to New Tricks, I have discovered yet another full-busted British actress playing a strong, intelligent main character. This outfit (from my most recent Netflix DVD) has removed any doubt that Amanda Redman belongs on my D list.
Amanda Redman’s outfit also raises two questions for me:
1. In real life, can senior police officers get away with exposing this much cleavage on the job in Britain? This Daily Mail article about criticisms of a newscaster’s cleavage makes me think not, but I don’t know because my second question is . . .
2. Just how far ahead of the game are the British? We know America is behind when it comes to acceptance of large bust sizes and the availability of bras for them, but we may also be dismally behind when it comes to body acceptance in general. For example, see Amanda Redman’s 2010 wedding publicity photo.
Jennifer Kesler wrote a great post about Redman’s scars soon after this photo was released:
If she’d been working in Hollywood instead of the U.K., I doubt she’d have been allowed before a camera without the scars being covered. If she’d been in my generation, even that wouldn’t have worked since going sleeveless, semi-dressed and undressed is considered essential to every female acting part these days.
I just love it that she doesn’t want to hide the scars, and that the people producing her TV shows don’t want them hidden either. I also love that the scars are neither explained nor discussed in the shows I’ve seen her in. These things happen; why should it be remarkable that they happened to her characters?
If an American version of New Tricks were produced in the States, the female lead would be
- significantly younger (I love that Redman was born in 1957),
- a C cup or less, and
- flawless.
Mr. Campbell and I witnessed a similar transformation when a version of Life on Mars was produced in America. We found the model-like main characters so visually perfect that we lost interest in the show during the first episode. The down-to-earth actors in the British version had made all the difference.
For me, as a full-busted, imperfect 46-year-old, it makes such a difference to see a full-busted, scarred 55-year-old playing the strong female lead in New Tricks.
This was just going through my mind recently. I feel like that British actors are under less pressure to conform to certain expectations in comparison to their Hollywood peers. Are there other ideals of beauty in the UK? Is it more tolerance towards different physiques?
It is often remarked on in the British press that US telly programmes, especially ones based on Uk programmes lose so much because the US casting is so rubbish with no real character actors, indeed no real actors, in effect just models who are afraid to play ordinary people on screen. US TV series seem so 2 dinmsional to us – nobody really seems to live or get dirty or get drunk or work, there is a lack of reality and standard ‘bright’art direction.( there are exceptions but not many)Notable examples of this are Shameless and The Office (the UK actors really look like office workers whilst the US ones looked like they were in Hollywood not Swindon)even our soaps have realistic looking actors. This may seem like a small point but the media do have a huge impact upon expectations and people’s satisfaction with their own looks. It is a shame because often the writing for US telly is funnier and wittier than in the UK.
MiaRose, I wonder if it’s also a more European attitude because I’ve noticed more variety in French films as well.
J Bear–I like your point about 2 dimensional. Funnily, The Office is closer to ordinary-looking actors than anything else I can think of on American television.
We definitely go more for character actors here in the UK. I am sure that Americans think our TV is full of ugly people!
I love Amanda Redman, have you seen her in At Home with the Braithwaites? She’s great in that http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0231012/
Thanks for the suggestion! Love having new shows to check out.
I’m an American and have fallen in love with foreign TV, esp British and Australian. I find it so refreshing that the actors can actually act and do not have perfect bodies and faces frozen from so much plastic surgery. Yes, there are quite a few uglies about, but as you age you certainly don’t get any prettier. Please don’t think that all Americans are as plastic and artificial as what comes out of Hollyweird. We’re not.
Wow. This picture blew my mind. My aunt–my father’s youngest sister–was burned in a strikingly similar way when she was a toddler. She pulled down a pot of something (I’ve heard soup, and I’ve heard pasta sauce) from the stove. Her upper arm and chest had to have skin grafts. Her burns are a bit more extensive than Redman’s, but so much alike that I have to wonder if my aunt would like to see that picture…