Isla Blair

by Roger Crow

Isla Blair is one of the sexiest fiftysomethings ever to grace the small screen. When she disrobed for the political drama The Final Cut a few years ago, blokes of all ages nearly fell off their chairs while women were delighted that she pushed back the boundaries for attractive older women in the media.

"I was so afraid, so nervous; it is a very exposing thing to do," Isla admits.

"But it was a marvellous character to play and it wasn't just about taking my clothes off. The dialogue was wonderful and she was a very interesting woman."

It wasn't the first time Blair had sent temparatures soaring on the box. Back in 1981, her love scenes with Antony Sher in The History Man set the benchmark by which all subsequent passionate TV scenes would be judged.

Isla has made a career out of playing strong, sexy women but admits that filming bedroom romps is a far from empowering experience. "IÕm always nervous when I have to do dramas like that," she admits. "Playing love scenes is a very vulnerable thing to do."

Aside from Blake's Seven, Isla appeared in that other cult Seventies series, Space 1999, a couple of times, as did her husband of the past 30 years, RSC veteran Julian Glover.

"Julian normally never stops working," she says, "and recently I could hardly turn round, I was so busy both filming and in the theatre. Then suddenly, we were both plunged into unemployment.

"It all seemed to have suddenly gone quiet for no reason. It has just never happened to us before - not both together like that. But I didn't despair. That is just what this business is like and I knew it would change."

For many women, suddenly having their husband around the house could have become stressful - and vice versa. But for the Glovers there was no such problem.

"It was wonderful to be able to spend time together, going to the theatre and even going to the gym together. "He's my best critic as far as acting goes and he's a really nice person to be out of work with," she laughs.