‘There’s no gender pay gap on Line Of Duty’ says BBC star Vicky Mcclure

Actress Vicky Mcclure has said she does not understand why the gender pay gap exists as she told fans “it doesn’t happen on Line Of Duty”.

Mcclure, one of the main stars of the hit BBC police drama, was asked for her views on the gender pay gap debate during a panel event at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

She told the audience at the city’s main conference centre: “I just don’t get it, I just don’t understand why men feel they’ve got the right to get paid more than women. It’s as simple as that.

“I don’t agree with it, obviously, and it doesn’t happen on Line Of Duty, I can tell you that.”

Her views were met with applause by members of the packed audience. 0 Vicky Mcclure was at festival panel discussion

Mcclure was joined by Line Of Duty creator Jed Mercurio for a wide-ranging discussion on the show, during which she revealed the “crazy” impact it has had on her career and the fact that she managed to secure the part of Detective Sergeant Kate Fleming despite having a “bad” audition.

Asked by interviewer June Sarpong whether she thought she would always get the part, Mcclure replied: “No, I had a really bad audition, didn’t I?

“I just remember like missing my mouth when I went to get a bottle of water, I thought ‘oh great’.

“But I knew that the scripts were amazing. I knew that it was something I’d not read before and you could see what they were doing was different and giving a female that amount of work was also a big deal to me.”

She agreed it is important to have strong female characters like Kate on television.

“Of course it is,” Mcclure said.

“I’ve got to say I do think Line Of Duty always nails it with casting. For me, it’s never obvious. Neil Morrissey in the first series? He was genius.”

She added: “The people we get in aren’t obvious and they nail it every time. The casting is always for the right reason.”