Welcome to Something Good, the arts and culture newsletter from The Conversation, which aims to cut through the noise and recommend the very best in new releases and events every fortnight. It's our off week but that doesn't mean nothing is happening in arts and culture.

Watching the political thriller series House of Cards with a male friend back in 2013, I was bemused by his confusion at a certain scene. The wife to the secretary of state, Claire Underwood (Robin Wright), stood in a dark kitchen, illuminated by the glow of an open refrigerator. “What is she doing?” my friend asked, puzzled. “Why is she just standing there?”

What had confused him, however, was instantly recognisable to me. As a woman, I knew Claire was experiencing a hot flash – and standing in front of the fridge’s cool light to try to feel better.

Many years later, that scene still stands out in my memory as one of the rare moments I’ve seen a menopause symptom on TV that isn’t played for laughs. In That '70s Show, the menopause is described as that “horrible thing that’s taken over your mother”. In Absolutely Fabulous, the ladies go to a “menopause support group” where attendees are aggressive, incontinent and sweating bullets. And in 2 Broke Girls, Jennifer Coolidge’s air-headed character Sophie confuses menopause for pregnancy after her period is “six months? A year tops” late.

Courtesy of Prime Video, Two Brothers Pictures, Marq Riley and Robert Viglasky

But the new Keeley Hawes drama, The Assassin, is finally offering something new. Hawes plays Julie, a menopausal woman who worked as a hitwoman in her youth and unexpectedly returns to the profession after a decade in retirement. It’s pulpy and stylish with an edgy, dark humour. In one scene, after she brutally takes out an assailant, Julie’s son Edward (Freddie Highmore) cries: “Are you really not going to tell me why you’re some kind of perimenopausal James Bond?”

Our reviewer, Beth Johnson, has researched the way that midlife female protagonists are represented in television. Historically, she explains, menopause has been television’s silent transition. Onscreen, it was something female characters either didn’t have, didn’t talk about or were mocked for.

She enjoyed the way the show uses the structure of the thriller to think critically about gender, ageing and identity. Importantly, she says, The Assassin doesn’t simply celebrate Julie’s transformation. It stages it as messy, uncomfortable and morally complex. Julie’s menopause is a reckoning – with a body that’s changing, a past that won’t stay buried and a society that prefers women neat, young and silent.

Do you think TV shows are doing enough to portray the challenges and realities of ageing for women? Answer our poll above to let us know. 

Last week, England's women defeated Spain to take home the Euro 2025 cup. We asked you, "Where is the best place to watch live sport?" and it was a tie between the pub and at home. 

The Assassin is available to stream on Prime Video and Channel 4

Anna Walker 
Senior Arts & Culture Editor 

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