Maxine Peake ‘at peace' with life and ‘embracing it'
In an interview with The Guardian, she said: "Well, on my next birthday in two weeks, I'll be 51.
"I'm at peace with the fact that I'm middle-aged now. I'm embracing it. Turning 40 was more difficult. Now I think: 'I'm still here', and that can't be looked upon lightly."
Peake was born in Bolton and was asked if her northern accent had impacted her career in a positive or negative way.
She shared: "They do call a group of actors a 'moan' of actors. We like to have a good moan.
"When people hear a regional accent, they immediately make assumptions about your class, financial status and education.
"People generally think if you've got a strong regional accent, you can't do much else.
"Obviously there are amazing actors like Jodie Comer who smash that to pieces because people don't realise she's from Liverpool. But because I came out the traps with the northern accent it's probably helped."
Outside of her TV work Peake has appeared in a number of films, including the Mike Leigh historical drama Peterloo, which was about the massacre of the same name.
Speaking about the opportunity to work with him, she said: "I wrote to Mike when I was at drama school, where I did my showcase with Sally Hawkins, a two-hander of the April De Angelis play, Playhouse Creatures.
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"I said: 'We should write to Mike Leigh.' She said: 'Are you sure?' I said: 'We'll do a joint letter.' So we wrote to him and we got a call in, and the rest is history.
"He's brilliant. He loves actors. He has such a specific way of rehearsing and character development, but he's so thorough and – I don't know whether he'd like me saying – humble.
"There are no airs and graces about him. He's so passionate about what he does, and I just love the fact that he loves actors."
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