Martin Clunes on nepotism in the arts: ‘If you’re s*** you won’t get the gig. You’ve got to punch your weight’
Martin Clunes says the entertainment industry is “too on-show to carry a dolt”, and the children of successful actors don’t get work just because of who their parents are.
The 63-year-old actor is currently starring in county lines drama Out There opposite Louis Ashbourne Serkis, which sees a single-parent farmer and his teenage son tangle with drug-dealing gangs in Monmouthshire.
Clunes and Louis Ashbourne Serkis. Pic: ITV
Serkis is the son of Lord Of The Rings actor Andy Serkis and Sherwood star Lorraine Ashbourne, and starred in his first TV show, Inspector Morse prequel Endeavour, when he was just 10.
Clunes tells Sky News: “I was involved in [Serkis’s] casting, so it was just like, ‘Oh, this is Andy and Lorraine’s boy. Oh, that’s interesting. If he’s s***, he won’t get the… Sorry, if he’s no good, he won’t get the gig’.
“You’ve got to punch your weight, cos that’s how it works, I think the industry is too on-show to carry a dolt. If someone was awful at it and they just got the gig because of whose child they were, it would really show, and you’d mess your project up.”
The six-part drama is produced by Clunes’s wife Philippa Braithwaite, who also produced long-running ITV comedy-drama Doc Martin in which Clunes also starred.
Clunes goes on: “I think it’s just a point of interest – maybe you get a second look, or somebody is curious, or somebody knows them. But I don’t remember ever having met Andy and Lorraine before doing this [show].”
Clunes’s own father was golden age star Alec Clunes, who sadly died when Clunes was just eight. His maternal uncle was Sherlock Holmes actor Jeremy Brett, and his grandparents were music hall entertainers.
Alec Clunes (centre) with Julie Andrews (left) and his wife Daphne (right), Martin’s mum, in 1959. Pic: Reuters
‘The Year of the Nepo Baby’
New York Magazine called 2022 “The Year of the Nepo Baby” highlighting the number of famous “actors, singers, directors who just happen to be the children of actors, singers, directors”.
And earlier this year, Spice Girl Mel B’s daughter Phoenix Brown said nepo babies had never faced so much hate, particularly on social media.
The 25-year-old DJ and entrepreneur asked whether “nepo babies [were] taking the flak for wider inequality in society?” in a piece she wrote for the Radio Times earlier this year.
A nepo baby, short for nepotism baby, is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as “a person who gains success or opportunities through familial connections”.
Serkis too says he thinks there are misconceptions over perceived nepotism in the industry.
A young Louis (2nd left) with his family on the red carpet in 2012. Pic: Reuters
‘It’s a tough industry’
The 20-year-old actor tells Sky News: “If you hear a surname, you always think of an association, but growing up and acting, it’s never really been about that. It’s been about attacking the role that I’ve worked hard to get or that I’ve been lucky enough to audition for.
“I think when a casting director hears [your name], it’s nothing more than a surname. And the way that we look at it is that it can only get you so far because it’s a tough industry. It’s competitive. And roles aren’t just handed out based on who your father is or who your mother is. I think it’s kind of slightly misconceived.”
Serkis calls his working relationship with Clunes “a beautiful partnership”, while Clunes says that through “the shared trauma of the series” the characters get thrown closer together “jumpstarting the father-son thing”.
Clunes with Caroline Catz in Doc Martin. Pic: Rex Features
‘It ain’t Doc Martin’
The ITV drama marks Clunes’s first return to the screen after wrapping Doc Martin in 2022.
When asked if this role is “against type”, the BAFTA-winning actor insists, “I don’t know what my type is”, before conceding, “Certainly it ain’t Doc Martin”.
“Doing one thing for 18 years, you kind of get that watermarked through you a bit,” he adds.
The farming role has parallels with Clunes’s own life, who after moving out of London over a decade ago, lives on a 130-acre farm in Dorset which produces hay and haylage for equestrian use.
He can even drive a tractor and a digger, skills he puts to good use in the first episode of the drama. Serkis, meanwhile, who says he’s “grown up and lived in the city all my life”, got to learn to drive a tractor for the show.
Pic: ITV
The next Jeremy Clarkson?
While farming has been a hot topic in recent weeks, due to Labour’s rulings on farmland inheritance tax in the Autumn Budget, Out There was filmed in Wales over a year ago.
Clunes says: “Farming was there and it was in trouble while we were making this. It’s just got a magnifying glass over it at the moment… It’s been struggling for a long time.”
A man of many talents, Clunes jokes that his CV boasts “sword fighting and lambing”, adding “and I know how to get a dripper into a sheep’s mouth”.
But despite his farming ability, Clunes says he has no aspirations to become a celebrity mouthpiece for the farming community.
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Jeremy Clarkson tells govt to ‘back down’
While fellow celebrity Jeremy Clarkson, who owns Diddly Squat Farm in the Cotswolds, has been vocal on the issue, Clunes has no ambition to get involved.
Asked if he too might join marches, or speak for the cause, Clunes is resolute: “No.”
When pushed, he says: “I have my opinions on it, but I’m not at the forefront of anything.”
While a reality series of Clunes’s Farm isn’t likely any time soon, Out There begins on ITV on Sunday at 9pm.
A woman who saw a man falling from an upper tier at Wembley Stadium says a similar incident at an Oasis concert over the weekend in which a fan died makes her wonder whether lessons have been learned.
Stephanie Good, 39, said a man fell during a Euro 2020 match between England and Croatia at Wembley in June 2021.
He landed “right next to where we were” on the “stairwell between rows of seats”, she said.
Named as Jon, he reportedly survived but suffered two broken ankles, a fractured femur and fractured pelvis just before kick-off.
Ms Good said she tried to give feedback but was unable to and felt the “emergency response was really lacking”.
Oasis, meanwhile, said they were “shocked and saddened to hear of the tragic death of a fan” at their Wembley concert on Saturday.
The man reportedly fell from the stadium’s upper tier.
In his 40s, he was found with “injuries consistent with a fall” and pronounced dead at the scene, the Met Police said.
Ms Good, an NHS manager from east London, said what happened at the Oasis gig was “so similar” to what she witnessed that it made her wonder “were lessons learned”?
Liam and Noel Gallagher on stage for the first Wembley night of the Oasis reunion tour. Pic: Lewis Evans
During that incident, among stadium staff “nobody seemed to know what to do”, she told the Press Association.
She thinks the man may have been trying to attach a flag to the front of a stand and “somehow managed to fall straight over”.
She said: “They (staff) didn’t seem well-trained in terms of how to respond to a really big emergency.
“Their stewards were kind of paralysed a little bit by fear, or they just weren’t well trained and didn’t know how to call for paramedics.
“It was us who were sort of shouting at them that they needed to get some paramedics.
“The first person on the scene wasn’t a stadium paramedic or St John Ambulance. It was an off-duty firefighter who had seen the guy fall and ran down to just try and offer some help.”
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Regarding the follow-up, Ms Good said staff moved spectators to other seats but did not ask for witness statements.
She added: “They didn’t seek any input from people who’d seen the incident or the aftermath of it. They didn’t seem interested in speaking to anybody about it.
“I was a bit concerned, because I felt that the emergency response was really lacking.”
She then tried to get in touch to give feedback, but was unable to do so and did not receive a response to a message on social media, she said.
A Wembley spokesperson said: “Wembley Stadium operates to a very high health and safety standard, fully meeting legal requirements for the safety of spectators and staff, and is certified to and compliant with the ISO 45001 standard.
“We work very closely and collaboratively with all relevant event delivery stakeholders – including event owners, local authorities, the Sports Grounds Safety Authority and the police – to deliver events to high standards of safety, security and service for everyone attending or working in the venue.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been denied bail ahead of his sentencing on prostitution-related charges.
Judge Arun Subramanian said the hip-hop mogul had failed to show sufficient evidence he is not a flight risk and also cited admissions of previous violence made during his trial.
Combs, 55, has been in prison since his arrest in September last year.
During a two-month trial, jurors heard allegations that he had coerced former girlfriends, including singer and model Cassie Ventura, into having drug-fuelled sex marathons with male sex workers, while he watched and filmed them.
Diddy fell to his knees after the verdict was delivered last month. Pic: Reuters/ Jane Rosenberg
In July, he was found guilty of two counts of transportation for prostitution – but cleared of more serious charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking, which carried potential life sentences.
The rapper’s legal team hailed this a “victory” and immediately applied for bail ahead of sentencing, citing his acquittal on the top charges.
After this was denied, they submitted another application last week. Judge Subramanian has now rejected the request again.
In denying the motion for bail, the judge found Combs had failed to show sufficient evidence to counter arguments he is a flight risk, writing in a court filing: “Increasing the amount of the bond or devising additional conditions doesn’t change the calculus given the circumstances and heavy burden of proof that Combs bears.”
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He also found that an argument by the music star’s legal team that the squalor and danger of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC), where he is being held, did not warrant release.
“The public outcry concerning these conditions has come from all corners,” the judge wrote. “But as Combs acknowledges, MDC staff has been able to keep him safe and attend to his needs, even during an incident of threatened violence from an inmate.”
As well as Combs’s bail application, his legal team has also filed a motion calling for him to be acquitted or given a new trial on the prostitution-related charges only.
The judge has not yet responded to this application.
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How the Diddy trial unfolded
How long could Diddy be jailed for?
Combs is due to be sentenced on 3 October and could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Discussions on sentencing guidelines which followed the jury’s verdict suggest it is unlikely he will be jailed for this long, with an estimate of around two to five years, taking into account time already served.
However, it is ultimately up to Judge Arun Subramanian to decide the rapper’s punishment.
On Friday, Donald Trump was asked during an interview about a potential pardon for Combs following speculation about the issue.
The president said it was unlikely, adding that the rapper was “very hostile” during his presidential campaign.
Combs, who co-founded Bad Boy Records and launched the career of the late Notorious BIG, was for decades a huge figure in pop culture – a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist and business entrepreneur, who presided over an empire ranging from fashion to reality TV.
As well as the criminal conviction, he is also facing several civil lawsuits.
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