‘Mortified’ Casualty actor sorry for saying male stars need to support their wives
A STAR of the hospital drama Casualty said he was “completely mortified” after he came under fire for displaying a “1950s mindset” in suggesting that the BBC’S gender pay gap is a result of men having wives and children to support.
Tom Chambers found himself in hot water after saying that the controversy over the difference in salaries between the highest paid men at the BBC and its female stars failed to take into account that men have unemployed family members to support.
The actor had said: “My wife works really hard as a stay-at-home mum, but I’m the only one bringing in a salary for our family. Many men’s salaries aren’t just for them, it’s for their wife and children, too.”
His comments produced swift condemnation, with critics mocking his attitude as outdated and sexist.
Chambers spoke out in defence of his Casualty co-star Derek Thompson, who was last week revealed to be the BBC’S highestpaid actor with earnings of over £350,000 a year, and also defended the earnings of Chris Evans, who receives £2.2 million a year from the corporation. “It’s like being a footballer – you earn your credits. I’ve just done six months on Casualty, but Derek has done 31 years of service.
“That means arriving in the dark at 6am and leaving when it’s dark at 9pm. It’s demanding stuff,” he said. Figures for the salaries of the BBC’S highest paid “on-air talent”, published in the corporation’s annual report, revealed that two-thirds of its stars earning more than £150,000 were male. Claudia Winkleman was the highestpaid female celebrity, earning between £450,000 and £500,000 last year. Referring to Evans’s salary, Chambers continued: “Likewise, Chris Evans has been a household name for 20 years and his Radio 2 figures are outstanding.”
Chambers, who won the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2008 and is about to star in Crazy For You, a West End musical set in the Fifties, co-starring Caroline Flack, Strictly’s 2014 winner, later insisted his comments to The Sun had been taken out of context. He said in a statement: “I am completely mortified by the stories that have run today and didn’t mean to offend anyone by my comments, which have been taken out of context from a conversation I had at a book launch.
“I in no way advocate the gender pay gap and I was ex-
plaining that I thought it had stemmed from that past, and shouldn’t be how things are now. I truly believe that change needs to happen.”
But his apparent about-turn came too late to halt a flurry of criticism on social media.
David Beckett, from Darlington, wrote on Twitter: “I don’t want to presume, but maybe Tom Chambers is a time traveller from 1955.”
Jack Monroe, a commentator, food writer and activist, added: “Hello BBC, I’d like to withdraw the bit of my TV licence that goes to Tom Chambers and pay it directly to his wife can you please advise, thx.”
Jon Dexter, from Sheffield, wrote: “What about those women who are sole earners in the household?”
The row came after some of the BBC’S highest-profile female stars wrote to Tony Hall, the BBC Director General, demanding he take immediate action to address the gender pay gap and “correct this disparity”. Clare Balding, Victoria Derbyshire, Angela Rippon, Wimbledon presenter Sue Barker, Today programme journalists Mishal Husain and Sarah Montague and BBC Breakfast regular Sally Nugent were among more than 40 women who put their names on the letter. Meanwhile, Dame Julie Walters told
Good Housekeeping magazine that women should be paid the same as men.
As the BBC pledges to tackle the gender divide, Dame Julie said that the entertainment industry has been under -paying women for decades.
The actress said: “Male actors have been earning more money. Why? It’s the same bloody job!”
She went on: “It’s women who go to the cinema more, generally speaking, so it doesn’t make sense from that point of view either. I think it’s wrong. Equal pay is the answer.” Dame Julie’s notable roles include starring opposite Sir Michael Caine in Educating Rita
and playing Mrs Weasley in the Harry Potter films.
‘I don’t want to presume, but maybe Tom Chambers is a time traveller from 1955’