Lionel Blair claims he doesn't get offered TV work because of sky high insurance costs.
Lionel Blair
The 90-year-old showbiz legend explained that older actors find it difficult to work on television because the insurance for them "costs a fortune" and production companies are often unwilling to fork out the fees and instead opt for younger performers.
Speaking at The Oldie of the Year Awards on Tuesday (29.01.19) Lionel told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "The terrible thing at the moment is when they want older people on television the insurance sots a fortune, as you can imagine. It falls on the production company, so they've got that to pay on top of my wage, and they can make young people look older."
Revealing it has also affected his work away from television, he added: "I've done loads of cruises but that suddenly stopped because the insurance is too much, in case I peg it in the middle of the Nile. But I'm quite a good sailor."
At the ceremony, the former 'Give Us a Clue' star was moved to tears as he was presented with the Lionel d'Or Oldie of the Year Award to a standing ovation at the event which was held at Simpson's in the Strand.
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