Be my grandma, Anne Reid!

I don’t know how I’ve gone this long without obsessing over Anne Reid. Last Tango in Halifax is wrapping up its second season on PBS (airs on BBC in the UK) and if you haven’t watched it yet, you need to start immediately. The show is about an older woman, Celia, and man, Alan, who find each other on Facebook (thanks to their grandchildren) and rekindle their relationship after years and years of being apart. It kind of reminds you that there’s more to Facebook than pictures of babies and weddings. Basically think of the cutest old couple you’ve ever seen and multiply it by 1000 because Alan and Celia are who you want to be when you’re old and in love. Anne Reid plays the adorable Celia and while she’s been overshadowed by Dames Maggie Smith and Judi Dench, you should familiarize yourself with Anne Reid. She’s the coolest.

Anne Reid Has been all over British television for years. Just looking at her IMDB page can be intimidating and while we don’t recognize many of the titles she’s been in, we do know that she guest starred on a episode of the David Tennant season of Doctor Who, which is impressive in and of itself. So what else do you need to know about Reid?

Her big break

She began her career when she was just 22 years old, meaning Reid has been on TV since 1957. She got her big break in 1961 when she landed the role of Valerie Barlow on Coronation Street, the longest running British soap opera. (It’s still on TV today.) During her 138-episode run on the show, there was a young producer who came in for just six episodes. His name was Peter Eckersley, and he would marry Reid in 1971, right around the time she left the show.

Reid considers herself a loner

In 1981 Reid lost her husband and she never even considered dating again. She told Radio 4 that Peter Eckersley, was "the cleverest man and the funniest man in the world.” I am tearing up just hearing her talk about him! Maybe Celia and Alan aren’t the cutest couple in the world. When asked why she hasn’t remarried, she responded that she was brought up to be self-sufficient. "I think it stood me in quite good stead, I think this is really why I never remarried, I think basically I'm a loner. I'm quite surprised I ever got married in the first place.”

She got naked with Daniel Craig

Are you jealous yet? I am! Back in 2003, Reid starred alongside Daniel Craig in a British film titled The Mother. The movie was about a grandmother who begins sleeping with a younger man. In an interview with BBC’s Radio 4 she explained, “The night before I had a lot of drink on my own in the flat and I stripped and I stood in front of a mirror and thought, ‘tomorrow I'm going to have to show this’ and I started to cry and I thought 'Oh my good God I can't do this,’ so I rang my son and I was weeping and he said 'look mum, it's a great part, if you're inhibited it's not going to work so just go for it' and I sort of managed to pull myself together but it was scary.” It would be rough to perform a sex scene with Daniel Craig, but it would be glorious.

But she’s not into sex scenes

Call her old fashioned, but Reid is not a fan of the sex scenes that happen these days, even though she was in one! She told Telegraph, “I don’t like watching sex scenes full stop. I don’t find them a turn on. I think that the romantic suspense that you used to get between people like Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant is much sexier than seeing people taking their clothes off and getting into bed, which is voyeurism. I go out and make the tea when people start doing that. I don’t want to watch it. I don’t think sex is a spectator sport.” If there’s one thing Reid isn’t afraid of, it’s speaking her mind. Amen, girl.

Move over June Squibb, you’ve got some competition for the cutest old lady award!

Images: Getty (3); PBS; Rebloggy