Drop Meldrew image, BBC told

Mr Darling says not all older people are Victor Meldrews

The government is to urge the BBC and other broadcasters to portray older people in a more positive way, according to reports.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Social Secretary Alistair Darling is to tell television chiefs, including BBC director general Greg Dyke, to cease portraying older people as just "Victor Meldrews".

The paper reports Mr Darling wants public prejudices against older people redressed with positive media images.

He is also said to be planning to encourage advertisers to exploit the "power of the grey pound".

He told the newspaper: "Magazines, television programmes and advertising are all heavily focused on younger people.

"The imagery they have of older people is the granny in slippers. My granny was still commuting into London on the Tube when she was 90. There are a lot of people like that.

"I want to see older people as they are - there are people like Victor Meldrew, or the people in Thora Hird's excellent soliloquies.

"But there are a lot of people who are very active and who don't make you think they're old but that they just have more years behind them than you do."

Lucrative market

Last year a survey for the charity Age Concern found that the proportion of people aged over 60 appearing on TV fell from 10% in 1998 to 7% this year.

The charity says television companies are discriminating against elderly people and missing out on a potentially lucrative market.

Mr Darling's comments, which have already been hailed by older people's groups, follow criticism of government policy on pensions.

Earlier this month several hundred pensioners took to the streets in Blackpool to protest against a 75p rise in allowances.

Campaigners want pensions, currently linked to prices, to reflect changes in income levels.