ITV’s award-winning Loose Women today aired a ‘This is 70+’ special with Janet Street-Porter (78), Dame Prue Leith (84), Lesley Joseph (79) and Gloria Hunniford (84), which was specially recorded to mark ITV’s 70th year of broadcast.
During the show, the powerhouse panellists - all in their 70s and 80s - discussed everything from love, loss, fashion and friendships as you get older.
Opening the show, Janet told viewers: “The young people of Britain listen up, old age isn't something to fear, it's something to celebrate!” before the panel went on to discuss their first appearances on ITV.
Gloria explained that her first appearance was hosting a show called ‘Sunday, Sunday’ as a clip of her interviewing Dame Edna Everage was played.
Janet said: “I was in another ITV studio during a show called ‘Saturday Night People’ with Russell Hardy and Clive James” before a throwback picture of her green, round framed glasses was shown.
Celebrating being ‘power-agers’, the panel discussed the best thing about getting older and Gloria said: “I think it's all about attitude and embracing it. Quite frankly, I wake up every morning and I think, ‘I'm glad I'm still alive, try to enjoy it’.”
Lesley added: “I must say it is good, I'm now at a position where I can say what I want, I can think what I want, I can wear what I want. I feel much freer now that I'm older, because I'm working in a different way… I also feel I want to travel more, I want to do what I want. Now [that] I've got to this age, I can be who I am, I can do what I want. I'm free to do that and it’s very liberating.”
Prue joked: “I think old age stinks… It takes me 10 minutes to get myself out of the bed in the morning and if I don’t do the exercises, I can’t move! There's all sorts of things that are wrong with old age. You know, you are very conscious that this is nearly the end, though I agree that you then decide that you're going to make the most of it and have fun. I think what we're all saying is that we don't care what people think as much as we did.”
Sharing the experience of many of the elderly population, the ladies also discussed scams and asked ‘How good are you at spotting a scam?’.
Lesley explained: “I think I'm quite scam proof. Now, I am so nervous [that] I won't open the door if I don't know who's on the other side. I shout, ‘What do you want? I don't need any, sorry. Go away!’ And I only ever answer the phone if I know who's on the other end.”
Prue shared: “You know, I think the most distressing kind of scamming is when people take advantage of the fact that older people are likely to be losing it a little bit, and are not quite so on the ball as they were. My mum, who was tremendously on the ball, was completely scammed in the classic, classic manner.
She continued: “A guy comes to the door and says, ‘I've just been fixing the roof next door and I happen to notice that there's some tiles missing on your roof, and it'll only cost £300 to fix them. Would you like me while I'm here?’ So, my mum thinks, ‘Well, I don't want a hole in the roof’. So she says yes to the £300 and then he comes back and says, ‘This is terribly bad news. I've been up there and it's not 300 quid. It's more like £3000 because the whole roof is bad and the timbers are rotten’. He put on a very good thing, and she bought it, so she gave him a check for £3000.”
Janet said: “I had somebody who I was very close to, a former partner of mine, who went into my bank and claimed we had had a joint account together - and I've closed it down. Yet, he still managed to get a check out of the bank for cash and went out with quite a large amount.”
During the show, the panel also touched upon the topic of loss and Prue opened up on her relationship with her husband John, she said: “One of the things I would not like, and it’s not going to happen because he is much younger than me… But I really would hate life without him.”
Gloria added: “I very sadly lost my husband about four months ago and you’re absolutely right when you say you would hate to be without your husband. Because, no matter what age you are, you suddenly think to yourself, ‘Gosh, I am on my own’ and I have never lived on my own.... I’ve always lived with husbands and children and so when your partner, as in my case [dies]... Fortunately, I'm a positive person. We had a saying in the house, ‘What's the alternative?’ and what is the alternative? You've got to try and pick yourself up, and you build a new life - and that's where the friends come in.”
Later discussing friendship, Gloria added: “I think that you have to work on friendships… Now, as I mentioned earlier in the programme, when I lost my lovely husband 4 or 5 months ago, you realise the importance, the real importance [of friendship]… I’ve got a great family but friendship, friends were getting in touch that maybe I hadn’t seen for ages.”
The panel also discussed the latest gen-z lingo when it comes to dating, testing each other on what the likes of ‘caspering, cookie jarring and roaching’ mean.
Prue also described her style evolution as Janet said: “When I first met you, you would never have dressed in bright colours.” Prue replied: “No, never. I was trying to be a man!”
Janet replied: “We worked for a newspaper where we were surrounded by men and we thought that was the only way to get on.”
Prue continued: “The first suit that I ever bought was pin striped, tailored by a man's tailor… I've always liked color, but I didn't dare wear it. Then I started to be a bit braver. I got married in a red dress. But when I married John, he was a fashion designer and a manufacturer, and so he really pushes me. If I say, ‘do you think these earrings are too extreme?’ He says, ‘No, have the bigger ones’. You know, he always pushes me. It’s great.”
Lesley also revealed: “I have to say I've still got about half Dorien Green’s [Birds of A Feather] wardrobe at home. I wear a lot of leopard skin!... Sometimes when you’re asked somewhere, people want to see what they know you best for and Dorien Green is what I’m known best for…
“There was one episode where I sang ‘Like A Virgin’ and I wore a dress which was very short, and I can still get in it, and that gives me huge pleasure. And, I do wear it sometimes but I don't think there's enough really fabulous gear for older women.”
Gloria added: “My mantra would be colour, colour, colour. The older I get, the more colour I want!”
Prue also joked that she was the only one on the panel that had embraced going grey and explained: “I used to streak it but then after a while, I thought the streak I liked best was the grey one.”
Closing the show, Janet joked: “Remember that growing old is mandatory, but growing up is optional.”
Written by TomSouthwell on Jan 28, 2025