Denise Welch has said her all-female lockdown series will create a “groundbreaking” discussion around menopause.
The 61-year-old former Coronation Street actress and Loose Women star appears in the 12-part series by actress Julie Graham called Dun Breedin’.
Tamzin Outhwaite, Angela Griffin, Alison Newman and Tracy Ann Oberman also star in the programme set in Brighton and recorded in its stars’ homes with the help of their families.
She told the PA news agency: “The subject matter couldn’t be closer to my heart. A lot of people don’t talk about menopause in older women.
“I am very lucky that I am part of Loose Women so talking about menopause and older women is something I do regularly anyway.
“But in real life, I have always been someone who finds humour in the darker side of what happens to women as they get older – the fact that you wet yourself when you laugh or you cry.
“There’s a lot of people reluctant to talk about menopause but it’s always much easier to make a point through comedy and humour.
“That’s certainly something that we need at this very strange time.
“I hope that people are going to enjoy it and that it has a life after lockdown.
“It’s groundbreaking in the fact we are professional actresses using our families and talking about menopause.”
Welch said her episode would feature her husband Lincoln Townley, who she wed in 2013, as her character’s “younger lover”.
Emmerdale actor Louis Healy, her youngest son from her 24-year marriage to actor Tim Healy, is also expected to make a cameo.
However, her eldest son, 1975 frontman Matty Healy, is not expected to appear.
Welch, who has been open about her past battles with depression, added: “There are some things where I still think there is still a massive gender divide. It’s like with postnatal depression.
“I have had history of clinical depression which I talk about at every given opportunity. I have got a book coming out about it.
“But I still maintain that if men had postnatal depression there would be a clinic on every corner because the world would grind to a halt.”
The first episode of Dun Breedin’ begins on Friday April 24 on YouTube.
