Rada director Edward Kemp blames ‘Downton Abbey effect’ for working-class actors being side-lined

Rada director Edward Kemp blames the ‘Downton Abbey effect’ for working-class actors being side-lined in favour of their posh privately-educated rivals

  • Edward Kemp claims middle and upper class actors are being cast in UK films 
  • Blames the rise in success of TV shows such as The Crown and Downton Abbey 
  • London School of Economics found a whopping 73% of actors are working class

The director of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (Rada) has blamed the ‘Downton Abbey effect’ for working-class actors being shafted in favour of posh rivals. 

Edward Kemp claims that the majority of British films which are successful worldwide portray a certain view of the UK – of middle and upper class backgrounds. 

He added that he believes this means that actors who come from a similar background will be looked on more favourably than those who don’t. 

Edward Kemp claims that middle and upper class actors are being cast because of a rise in the success of British TV shows such as The Crown and Downton Abbey. Pictured is Erin Doherty who plays Princess Anne

Mr Kemp (pictured) argued that successful series such as Downton Abbey had caused international audiences to view the UK as purely 'middle and upper class'

Mr Kemp (pictured) argued that successful series such as Downton Abbey had caused international audiences to view the UK as purely ‘middle and upper class’

And it appears that the latest smash hits seem to agree with Mr Kemp’s theory. Netflix’s latest series of The Crown has privately educated actors as the Queen, Prince Philip, Prince Margaret and Prince Charles. 

London School of Economics found that a whopping 73 per cent of actors came from middle-class backgrounds

London School of Economics found that a whopping 73 per cent of actors came from middle-class backgrounds

However, Erin Doherty, who plays Princess Anne is an exception, according to the Times she has said she spent her childhood ‘happily hanging around in Croydon wearing a tracksuit’.  

In a similar vane, the BBC’s His Dark Materials, created alongside US studio HBO, cast Will Keen – an Etonian – as a main character.

His real-life daughter, Dafne Keen, plays heroine Lyra Belacqua.

Mr Kemp argued that successful series such as Downton Abbey had caused international audiences to view the UK as purely ‘middle and upper class’. 

However he praised Eddie Redmayne, Dominic West and Tom Hiddleston, who all went to Eton, and said in an interview with the Times: ‘There may be certain kinds of roles they are righter for than other kinds of people.’ 

Privately educated Benedict Cumberbatch has complained of ‘class-typing’ in film casting and even suggested it could push him to move to the US. 

A paper published by the London School of Economics found that a whopping 73 per cent of actors came from middle-class backgrounds, even though just 29 per cent of the population are middle class. 

In a similar vane, the BBC's His Dark Materials, created alongside US studio HBO, cast Will Keen - an Etonian - as a main character. His real-life daughter, Dafne Keen, plays heroine Lyra Belacqua (pictured)

In a similar vane, the BBC’s His Dark Materials, created alongside US studio HBO, cast Will Keen – an Etonian – as a main character. His real-life daughter, Dafne Keen, plays heroine Lyra Belacqua (pictured)

Rada has begun to try and improve some areas of diversity and even emailed its alumni encouraging scripts with at least 50 per cent female representation. 

Star of the smash hit BBC thriller Killing Eve, Jodie Comer, said to the Times that her mentor Stephen Graham – who starred in Line of Duty – told her in moments of self doubt: ‘Stop that. You can believe it, because you’ve worked hard for it. 

‘Don’t have this working-class idea of ”I can’t believe this has happened to me”.’ 

Mr Kemp suggested that although Rada and other drama schools are training large numbers of working class actors, ‘there are questions about whether they are getting the work.’

And Doctor Who star Christopher Eccleston has said that his accent and working-class background meant her was ‘never offered Shakespeare’.

He told the Daily Telegraph: ‘You don’t hear many accents like me, it’s discrimination and I loathe it. It’s held me back in terms of the classics.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk