Bergerac's Zoë Wanamaker on industry sexism: "Men can get away with it"

Her TV credits include Susan Harper in My Family and Queen Antedia in Britannia.

Her father Sam Wanamaker was a prime mover behind the creation of Shakespeare’s Globe theatre.

Here, Radio Times chats with Wanamaker about the original John Nettles detective series, building chemistry and what it's like being a woman in the TV industry.

Did you enjoy the original Bergerac?

I’ve never seen it. I don’t even know what the theme tune was. But I was with the RSC with John Nettles in 1978. On Saturdays, if we weren’t working, we used to go on long horse rides together in Warwickshire.

Tell us about the new Charlie and Bergerac…

We meet them only six months after his wife has died and he’s gone off the rails. They’ve both gone through trauma, the woman who was her daughter and his wife has died and it’s changed their relationship.

When there is a death in the family, the dynamics change hugely. I discovered that when my father was ill, he begged me to help him go. He’d been suffering from prostate cancer for some time. He fell asleep before he could [end his life]. But it was awful.

Does a death like that stay with you?

Yes. You think the world should stop. Why is everybody carrying on as if nothing’s happened? It’s traumatic, it really is. You reassess yourself as well and what you feel about how you would like to die. I’m still having to constantly adjust to a different way of life.

Did the chemistry work between you and Damien [Molony]?

Yes, it was immediate for me because he’s just so good and smart and open. If another actor doesn’t like you or communicate with you, it’s hard to maintain any self-confidence or self-belief. I’ve had that once when I couldn’t fit in. It was a horrible experience, sad and upsetting.

Charlie is a tough cookie — are you?

She is a powerful, ruthless woman. But women are powerful. I’m unputdownable. My father built the Globe Theatre! That took him 27 years of his life and he never lived to see the opening. That’s tenacity. I was called Zoë Troublemaker at school. I didn’t understand certain things, the connections of things, because I had undiagnosed dyslexia.

How did you get through a decade of My Family with dyslexia?

I would stick lines up on the walls. I went to a hypnotherapist who offered me a drug because hypnotherapy was no good. Now I get somebody to help me with lines. It’s torturous, but seems to work. They always say it gets harder as you get older. But you have to find a way.

Has the industry got better for women?

No. Women don’t get paid as much, for a start. Also, when I first started, the agent I took on said you have to lie about your age. Why? Because women, after 30, they’re grandmothers! Every time you see an article, it’s 'Zoë Wanamaker, 72'. It always says your age. They don’t do that for men and it’s stayed the same. Women bear everything. They not only bear children, they clean up. Men can get away with it.

Do you get to drive a supercar in Bergerac?

No, but Damien took me in his car and drove off at 100mph!

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Bergerac premieres on U&Drama on Thursday 27th February 2025.

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