Lucy Lawless says her 50s have been "a time of immense power"

Asked how her life has taken a "left turn", she told the Metro newspaper's 60 Seconds column: "Utterly. It's exciting to tell people that your 50s are a time of immense power.

"You get a second wind after children and you've stopped having to prove yourself in whatever area has driven you for all these years.

"You can only fail, but who cares? On your deathbed you're going to care you didn't give up opportunities."

Lucy admitted she had never "desired" a move into directing, but took the plunge on Never Look Away, which is a documentary about New Zealander Margaret Noth, who was a photojournalist and war reporter for CNN.

She recalled: "We were looking for a director and somebody said, 'Why don't you do it?' I said, I'm an actor!'

"But it turned out I was the only person who cared enough to push the project through.

"It went to the Sundance Film Festival and was a remarkable success, and consequently I've discovered the other side of the camera."

Earlier this year, Lucy insisted she was "not that interested" in acting anymore.

She told The Independent newspaper: "For nearly 40 years it was all I'd done for a living, and I'm just not that interested in the process any more, to be honest with you.

"This directing thing is like a hard 180 degrees the other way. You have total control of it, and it's made me giddy. Not with power exactly, but now it's all I really want to do. It's really, really attractive."

However, she's still enjoying stepping in front of the camera for her lead role in My Life Is Murder.

She told the Metro: "We're filming series five at the moment and I love it. It's an hour of everyone's day to feel safe.

"As a director, it's bloody hard out there. I heard it from my husband [director Robert Tapart], too. But I'm OK with the challenge."