A £200k Queen’s ransom!
That’s what The Crown’s Claire Foy is getting in BACK PAY... to plug gender gap with Matt Smith
IT WAS, by anyone’s standards, a truly regal pay day.
The Mail on Sunday has learned that Claire Foy, who starred as the Queen in hit Netflix series The Crown, has received a bumper £200,000 in back pay from the show’s producers.
The payment comes after it was revealed that Foy, 33, was paid less than co-star Matt Smith, who starred alongside her as Prince Philip in 20 episodes broadcast over two series.
The sum is designed to make up for the pay disparity, suggesting that Smith, 35, was paid £10,000 more than her for each one-hour show.
Foy earned a reported £29,000 each episode. Smith’s pay packet for The Crown has never been revealed.
Smith’s bigger wage was defended by producers who said he was a better-known ‘name’ when The Crown started.
But the former Doctor Who supported Foy’s bid for parity.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter last week, Smith said: ‘Claire is one of my best friends and I believe that we should be paid equally and fairly and there should be equality for all. I support her completely and I’m pleased that it was resolved and they made amends for it because that’s what needed to happen.
‘Going forward I think we should all bear in mind that we need strive to make this a better and more even playing field for everyone involved.’
A source confirmed last night: ‘The difference in the wages between Matt and Claire in the 20 episodes of the show so far was backdated. It has all been amicably resolved.’
Foy, who will be replaced in the next season of The Crown by Olivia Colman, only learned she had not received equal pay when producer Suzanne Mackie let it slip at a TV conference last month.
Mackie said that Smith was paid more because he was ‘better known’, having found international fame as Doctor Who, whereas Foy had appeared in lower profile series such as the BBC’s Wolf Hall and Little Dorrit.
In a statement sent to The Mail on Sunday, the production company behind The Crown, Left Bank Pictures, said: ‘As the producers of The Crown we are responsible for budgets and salaries. The actors are not aware of who gets what and cannot be held personally responsible for the pay of their colleagues. We are absolutely united with the fight for fair pay, free of gender bias and for a rebalancing of the industry’s treatment of women in front of the camera and behind the scenes.’
Neither Netflix nor representatives of Foy or Smith responded to requests for comment last night. John Simpson: BBC boss tried to slash my pay 75%
AS WORLD Affairs Editor, John Simpson is one of the most familiar and respected correspondents on the BBC.
But the veteran newsman has revealed that he was almost forced out of the Corporation last year by a boss who threatened to cut his pay by three-quarters.
The 73-year-old broadcaster said former head of news James Harding had proposed slashing his salary in a bid to ‘get rid’ of him – but that he survived because Mr Harding quit the BBC just before he could implement his plans.
Mr Simpson believes the move was part of efforts to edge out some of the Corporation’s older ‘familiar faces’ and increase diversity on screen.
Jeremy Paxman, 67, resigned from Newsnight in 2015, though John Humphrys is still presenting Radio 4’s Today programme at the age of 74.
Mr Simpson told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The previous head of BBC news seemed to see no role for me and proposed to cut my pay by nearly three-quarters in an effort to get rid of me. For almost a year I scarcely appeared on the Ten O’Clock News.
‘He apparently also wanted to get rid of various other familiar faces from BBC news and current affairs.
‘But at the end of last year, a few days before the new deal was imposed on me, James Harding announced his resignation. I am proud just to have survived and to have kept going in spite of a fairly hefty attempt to get rid of me.’
It is understood that Mr Simpson’s salary was almost halved to around £150,000 not long after Mr Harding arrived at the BBC in 2013. Sources said Mr Harding was proposing to halve Mr Simpson’s pay again.
However, Mr Harding left the BBC in December to set up his own media company.
Mr Simpson said he felt there was value in experienced reporters staying on air.
He added: ‘I don’t mean to say that it’s a good idea for the BBC or indeed any organisation to be dominated by old men. But there is a value in having one or two old characters around who can just explain to everybody that what’s happening today isn’t necessarily the worst or the most frightening or the most dreadful thing that’s ever happened. It enables people to put events in context.’
Soon after his arrival, Mr Harding announced a ‘determined’ effort to get more ethnic minorities and women in front of the cameras, saying there was a lack of diversity because managers tended to recruit those who ‘look like them’.
Soon after his departure was announced, a row erupted over revelations that some male presenters earned more than women for doing the same jobs.
Mr Simpson first revealed the bid to oust him during an event organised by public speaker agency Kruger Crowne in London last week. But he added that he now feels more valued by the Corporation.
The BBC said they did not comment on internal staff matters, while Mr Harding has not responded to requests for comment.