GROWING old doesn't mean the party has to stop says Hollywood star Sir Ian McKellen ­— who spoke about his school reunion and star-studded bash in Bolton to celebrate his 80th birthday.

Bolton School old boy Sir Ian is currently promoting his new film The Good Liar, in which he stars alongside Dame Helen Mirren.

It is about about two people in the later years of their lives ­— which does not, says Dame Helen, "revolve around death or fatal illness".

Sir Ian plays consummate con man Roy Courtnay, said: "Younger people don’t know what it’s like being old.

“I am 80 and this year I went to a reunion of my form from school.

“There were 30 of us in the form and 10 didn’t turn up, because they were either dead or incapacitated or didn’t want to come.

“The other 20 are hale and hearty, grandchildren of course, retired long ago, full of beans.

“They couldn’t wait for the next party.

“I think that is the norm now for 80-year-olds, as much as people are incapacitated. But young people tend to run the world.”

In the film Sir Ian sets his sights on the recently widowed Betty McLeish and plans to take her for everything she has.

Dame Helen added: “They don’t realise that life carries on and it does, if you’re lucky and, as Ian says, healthy and active in life.

“Life absolutely carries on in the same ways, with the same passions, the same excitement, the same fun."

She said: "It’s also conspicuous that this is a film about two people in the, dare we say it, later years of their lives."

But there is one thing that is a bridge too far for Sir Ian, now he’s old enough to pick and choose what he cares about.

“I did think the other day, as we battle through Brexit, I thought, ‘Oh good God, when I’m long dead they still won’t have the Brexit deal complete’.So I think I won’t take a view on it and I’ve withdrawn entirely, emotionally, from the race and am now watching it as a bit of chess. All I can say is they are wretched players and don’t know a pawn from a queen.” The Good Liar is released on November 8.