Ahead of her 80th birthday Joanna Lumely wants to legalise assisted dying because: “It would be so nice not to have my family sent to prison for helping me go”
National treasure Joanna Lumley has expressed support for legalising assisted dying so family members can avoid going to prison.
The veteran star, who returns for a new series of BBC hit Amandaland next week, told the Radio Times: “I’d love to have it in the arsenal, should the time come that I just go, ‘This is too bloody awful’. It would be so nice not to have my family sent to prison for helping me go.”
Public support for assisted dying in the UK is high, with polls consistently showing over 70-80% of the public supporting a change in the law for terminally ill adults.
Ageless Lumley celebrates her a milestone 80th birthday on Friday but insists there is no special secret to youthful good looks.
“I’m really not obsessed with appearance,” she added. “I think what you should do is try and look nice and then forget about it.
“And now I shall be 80… but I shall clearly make 90, and I can’t wait!”
One thing she has ruled out doing any more is sex scenes in film or TV: “I just think, ‘Poor old actors, there they go again, having to hammer away at each other, and look good while doing it’ and it’s pathetic.”
Lumley shows no signs of slowing down as she’s also returning as gothic Grandmama in Tim Burton’s Wednesday and for Radio 4’s Conversations from a Long Marriage.
She also urged politicians and the general public to be kinder on the subject of immigration.
“We’re all just creatures… we don’t own the land, we’re just people on the earth,” she reasoned. “|Nobody wants to leave their homeland.
“But if they can’t bear to live there, can’t get work, are persecuted, if there’s a drought, a famine, if there’s a war, then we have got to understand that. So, I think we should be kinder, just be kinder.”
Amandaland returns to BBC screens on May 6 and Series 2 finds Amanda still living in SoHa, and juggling teenagers, her online Senuous brand and her “co-lab” working at Kitchen’s Bathrooms and Kitchens.
Lucy Punch, who plays Amanda, belives fans will love the special guests: “I got to work with so many incredibly funny actors, I loved my scenes with Pam Ferris (who plays Amanda’s neighbour Elspeth in Ep4). She’s brilliant. I love playing Amanda being devious, when she thinks she’s being charming and getting away with it.”
The series concludes with the teens getting ready for their high school prom, while Amanda and Mal’s relationship starts blossom.
“But it’s buried very deep” teases Lucy. “They get on better in this series, which is nice, there’s more teasing friendly banter between them.”
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