A HAMPSHIRE-based TV star has complained that women are still unequal in the acting world - but that looking good has become as much an issue for men.

Actress Sarah Parish, 46, said her male counterparts are now expected to appear perfect on screen.

The Atlantis and W1A star said: “'You have to have a six pack, you have to have a pair of glutes, you have to wax your chest. You have to sign a contract saying you will show your bum.

“You see these poor guys right before a scene, doing press-ups, when they should be thinking about their character. That's what we've come to expect from men on screen now ... hot, young people with perfect bodies.”

Parish added: “Of course it actually isn't what people want to see. I want to see interesting faces. I want to see different bodies. I want to see people I can relate to. There's nothing attractive about knowing a man has been flexing in front of a mirror five minutes before a scene.

“When did that become sexy? And I don't want to see a woman looking starved to death. When did that become sexy?”

The actress, who plays Anna Rampton - the BBC's head of output - in W1A, added: ''I did hear something alarming the other day. I bumped into a friend at an audition, another girl my age.

“I asked if she was still doing this show - I can't tell you what it is - and she said, 'No, it was cancelled'.

“The reason they gave was that they already had a female-driven programme. Wow. Because you can't have two female-led dramas on telly. How awful would that be!

“So we're still not there. I don't know if we'll ever be equal. We've still got an old-fashioned way of receiving female characters. They've got to be the wife, or they've got to be nuts.”