I’m fed up of men being the seducers on TV, says actress
DENISE Gough has blasted the prevalence of nudity in TV dramas – and complained she is tired of seeing women seduced.
The Olivier award-winning actress criticised ‘formulaic’ scripts in which ‘everyone seems to be butt naked’.
And she said that she has been ‘very clear’ about the issue of pay, insisting that she receives as much as her male co-stars.
Speaking at a screening of new thriller Paula, the 37-yearold said that she was ‘very specific’ about her character seducing the lead man, a ‘terrifyingly opportunistic’ handyman played by Tom Hughes.
She said: ‘She kind of seduces him in quite a bold way, which you don’t see that much.
‘I was very specific about her seducing him. I am tired of seeing women be seduced, and it’s always “she is seduced then she is having an orgasm”.’
Miss Gough’s part in the BBC programme – which starts on Thursday and sees her play a chemistry teacher whose life is turned upside down after a one-night stand – is her first lead role in a prime-time television drama.
Talking more about her views of on-screen nudity, she said: ‘There are things now that when you do sex scenes all these photos of you filming end up on websites. I don’t want that for myself.
‘No one was looking [at me] for 14 years. Just because they are looking now doesn’t mean I need to do things they want me to. I don’t need any more to do things just to pay the rent and that is major for me.’
She added that she insisted her pay was ‘top whack’ – and higher than that of the actors.
‘Photos end up on websites’
When asked about her views on the gender pay gap, Miss Gough said: ‘We still have a way to go but people are getting much more vocal.
‘That has to start at the top, with Hollywood stars who are openly asking what the men are getting paid. I know I’ve been very clear about [Paula], that I was on top whack and the boys were less.’
Miss Gough – who last year won the Best Actress Olivier for play People, Places And Things – also recalled an audition for a different show where she was told that the most important thing about her character was her ability in bed.
She said: ‘Once, I went for something and there was a girl who was part of the Real IRA and was really political. When I walked in the director said “the main thing about this character is how she f **** ”.’