Sally Wainwright

Well, I think that's the... The show was originally called Hot Flush, or Hot Flash, as you say here.

And the menopause doctor I was working with in England said, I really don't think you should call it that.

And we pushed back against it eventually, even though I think the BBC liked it, because it was clear what the show was if you called it Hot Flash.

I have a question, though, about...

No, I didn't.

Incredibly successful.

I think it's an interesting question because I think... Because I've got a certain status...

Had you been an unknown?

Yeah, I think it's probably less likely.

But also, just getting funding for it wasn't as easy as you might think.

Because it's not the usual staple of men with guns saving women, which is what 95% of television is.

And even when we do see women playing lead parts in shows, it's often a male version of what women are.

Women on TV are so poorly represented.

No, they're often impossibly glamorous.

They usually stick thin.

They're usually under 30.

And that's what we normally get as role models for what women are like.

Well, I think there's so much drama in women who've got history.

There's so much drama in stories that begin 60 years ago.

When I wrote Last Tango, it was a story that started 60 years ago.