Martin Clunes on nepotism in the arts: 'If you're s*** you won't get the gig'
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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.
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].".
