Zoe Wanamaker reveals future for beloved BBC sitcom My Family and if it will ever return - 14 years after it was axed
Zoe Wanamaker has poured cold water on claims that she could return to her most popular role.
The actress, 75, starred in hit BBC sitcom My Family, about a white household in West London, for 11 years until 2011.
And her co-star Kris Marshall has called for it to be revived.
However, Zoe - who posed next to her portrait by artist Christine Youldon at The Mall Galleries in London this week - told Daily Mail's Richard Eden: 'My Family was about a nice middle-class family, and about relationships.
'It was smart, ironic and funny. I don't know what they would do now.
'It would be complex to do the same storyline today as I feel it would be stripped from what it was.
Zoe Wanamaker has poured cold water on claims that she could return to her most popular role
The actress, 75, starred in hit BBC sitcom My Family, about a white household in West London, for 11 years until 2011
'It was about family dynamics – women, men, and couples dealing with children. Everything has changed.'
At its peak My Family was the UK's most-watched sitcom but was axed by the BBC after 11 years to make room for new comedy.
At the time, Zoe revealed executives told her the show was actually being dumped because it was 'too middle-class'.
They admitted their output had become too focused on one social group with shows such as My Family and Outnumbered, and that they were actively searching for more working-class comedy.
Zoe added that the BBC had 'shot itself in the foot' by making such statements while it continued to promote Miranda Hart's sitcom Miranda.
Appearing on Mark Lawson Talks To... on BBC4, Miss Wanamaker said: 'I was angry at how they handled it, really more than anything.
'All I got told was that the BBC didn't want to have any more middle-class sitcoms, which was kind of shooting yourself in the foot really, as a statement, because along comes Miranda Hart, who is the most wonderful... and she is not exactly working-class.'
Zoe played long-suffering wife Susan Harper to Robert Lindsay's infuriating dentist Ben Harper for the BBC1 sitcom's entire run.
At its peak My Family was the UK's most-watched sitcom but was axed by the BBC after 11 years to make room for new comedy
My Family was axed in March 2011 after 121 episodes just a month after Amanda Hart's sitcom was promoted from BBC2 to BBC1 for its third series.
At its height My Family attracted audiences in excess of ten million but by the end struggled to reach five million.
Announcing that the 11th series of My Family would be the last, BBC1 controller Danny Cohen said: 'Now that all the Harper children have fled the nest we feel it's time to make room for new comedies.'
