Matthew Macfadyen talks about tougher times on TV for women

The Radio Times recently interviewed Matthew Macfadyen and the following was reported:

Matthew Macfadyen, who is starring in a new BBC dramatisation of EM Forster’s Howards End, and is married to fellow actor Keeley Hawes, says there are fewer roles for women (a trend Hawes has bucked) and rues the “wasteland” many encounter during their middle years.

“There are just fewer parts for women. And also there’s a weird thing with women where initially you’re the ingénue, and then there’s a wasteland, and then you’re Hedda Gabler. Guys don’t have that; they float through,” says Macfadyen, adding that the much discussed gender pay gap certainly extends to actors on TV.

 

“Men are by and large paid more than women. I know this from Keeley, that the sort of excuse they’ll use is, ‘Well, he’s done a few American things.’ And you think, well, no. It’s not to do with that. It’s cobblers.”