Edel Coffey: Strictly's Amanda Abbington and embracing the renaissance of middle-age

It can be hard to find self-belief and confidence in your forties, hard not to lean into the comforting embrace of invisibility, hard not to think you’re past a lot of things, actually. 

Amanda Abbington has said Strictly Come Dancing is making her 'feel like a woman again'. Picture: BBC

I was eating a chocolate-covered toffee mouse and absent-mindedly wondering if my facial hair is as noticeable to other people as it is to me, when I came across an article about Amanda Abbington, the 49-year-old actress who has been playing a blinder on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing. 

Abbington said the show had made her “feel like a woman again”. What does that mean, I wondered as I popped another chocolate mouse in my mouth and read on.