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.
Entertainment
‘I’m shocked at how fragile I am still’: Cumberbatch and Colman on protecting their sanity from perils of social media
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch says he’s shocked at how “fragile” he still is – despite years in the spotlight and success in the industry.
It might seem like the Doctor Strange star and The Crown actress Olivia Colman have it all when it comes to money and success – but they are also human like the rest of us.
The pair lead the cast of new satirical black comedy The Roses, which sees picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo Rose – a rising star chef and ambitious architect – raise their two children in California, while chasing their own dreams.
‘I am shocked at how fragile I am’
But behind its dark humour and comic language, the film also looks at the realities of power imbalance, insecurity and wounded pride – in even the strongest of relationships.
And 49-year-old Cumberbatch – whose character faces a major setback in his career – tells Sky News that in real life the glare of social media only intensifies those type of situations.
“I am shocked at how fragile I am still.
“I don’t go anywhere near it [social media] because of that.
“It’s like walking into a place where people want to marry you or kill you. Those extremes.
“I think we will get to a stage, a corporate culture that’s now manifested around it where people are obliged to do that in order to sell their lives, and therefore their brand and what they do for a living.”
Co-star Colman – who’s long-shunned the online world – agrees.
Cumberbatch and Colman in The Roses. Pic: Jaap Buitendijk/ Searchlight Pictures
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“I’m afraid I am very thin-skinned.
“I don’t look at any of it. My husband will look at a review and if it’s nice he’ll show me – but if it’s anything mean he knows to just go ‘don’t look – don’t look.’
“You just have to learn to be thicker-skinned.
“But actually, I think we need people who are sensitive and kind.”
‘Don’t do it… delete it all’
Colman – now 51, and whose leading role in The Favourite bagged her an Academy Award in 2019 – says no amount of experience and success can shield her from criticism.
“My advice to a young’un – sort of dipping their toe into the world of social media for the first time is absolutely don’t do it.
“Delete it all. If you want a happy life, don’t have any of it. I’ve never had it.”
The movie – directed by Meet The Parents’ Jay Roach with The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara – also calls into question the notion of success – asking, is it really possible to have it all?
Or is sacrifice inevitable when it comes to spinning the plates of a high-flying career, marriage and parenthood?
Cumberbatch admits “you can’t do it all without there being a cost”.
“You just have to weigh up what those balances are,” he adds.
Colman says “there are I suppose little sacrifices along the way” – from both sides of a relationship.
The comedy drama offers a fresh take on Warren Adler’s novel The War Of The Roses – and the 1989 hit film adaptation- starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
Colman and Cumberbatch – both producers on the film – insist they weren’t daunted by that though.
“We wanted to find a project to do together, and we have utter respect for the iconic status of the film and book,” explains Cumberbatch.
“Hopefully this will have its own place in the culture – it’s very different, it’s not a remake – it’s a reimagined jumping-on point.”
“But beyond that, it’s very different,” adds Colman.
Former Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa and Barbie’s Kate McKinnon also form the cast.
The Roses is out in UK cinemas now.
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