Charles Dance Slams BBC's 'Parlous State' and TV's 'Bugger-All' Producers in Candid New Interview

Charles Dance Doesn’t Hold Back

Charles Dance is not in the mood for small talk. The first question lands badly; he swats it away with the kind of precise, velvet-edged authority that made him a global icon. The actor, best known for bringing Tywin Lannister’s cold fury to life in Game of Thrones, wants to make something clear: he loves theatre. “I’ve always said I prefer doing film, which I do, but if a play goes well it can be amazing.”

But don’t expect him to romanticise the stage. He calls theatre exhausting, especially “the heavy stuff.” He mentions Long Day’s Journey into Night and Shadowlands, both West End runs that demanded eight shows a week for six months. He remains baffled that audiences wanted to spend Boxing Day watching Eugene O’Neill’s family tragedy. “Give me a break.”

Yet there he is, back on stage in August Strindberg’s Creditors at the Orange Tree Theatre. The production is already sold out. Dance plays Gustav, a manipulative figure who systematically gaslights his insecure friend into believing his wife is cheating. Dance agrees there is “something a bit Andrew Tate about Gustav” — a sharp, modern reference to toxic masculinity. He enjoys the challenge: “All human life is in these three acts.”

TV Is in Trouble, Says Dance

Dance is rarely off our screens, but that doesn’t mean he respects what modern television has become. He points to The Jewel in the Crown, the 1984 epic that made him a star, and notes how slow it feels now. “Scenes are allowed to play out. These days you need to grab audiences within 10 seconds. There is such a hunger for product.”

He believes television follows America down the path of processed food and shopping malls. The streamers are churning out content, but quality is slipping and too much of it underestimates the audience’s intelligence. His harshest words are reserved for the army of producers who now clutter sets. “These days you get banks of seats on set with the word ‘producer’ on the back. You think, ‘Who are these people? What do they actually do? And the answer is bugger-all.’”

“Running Scared”

Then comes the headline-grabbing verdict on the BBC. According to the interview text documented in Screenshot (550).png, Dance describes the corporation as being “in a parlous state.” It is, he says, running scared at the slightest whiff of scandal or misspeak, terrified of losing the licence fee. He still believes in public service broadcasting, but argues the BBC needs an alternative funding method that isn’t dependent on advertising. His fear: “The majority of people very rarely watch it. It’s a great shame.”

Fame, Bond and the “Thinking Woman’s Crumpet”

The Jewel in the Crown transformed Dance from a jobbing unknown into a heartthrob at 38. He admits he didn’t know how to handle it. “The requests came in to do publicity and I did everything from Women’s World to Knitting Weekly. You couldn’t open a paper or a magazine without seeing me.” He calls that a lesson learned about over-promoting oneself.

He also lost a film role because of his heartthrob status. Michael Winner told him that Alan Ayckbourn was “not too keen” on having a matinee idol in A Chorus of Disapproval. Dance saw the film — with Jeremy Irons in the part.

He turned down a James Bond screen test on his agent’s advice, fearing typecasting. “I had the confidence but not the experience, I would have f----d it up.” And yes, he agrees it’s time for a ginger Bond. His own strawberry-blond hair made “ginger Maxim” unacceptable for the 1997 Rebecca adaptation. “Why on earth not? It’s ridiculous.”

Age, Gym Bodies and Honesty

Dance is 79 now and still looks striking. He shrugs off his pin-up past: “I think I’m a bit past it now, aren’t I?” He is quietly critical of the modern gym-obsessed era of acting. “There’s a point at which you think – that’s a gym body. This is the result of someone taking a lot of time pumping up.” Still, he admits he works to stay fit so he can keep working. “Without going to extremes.”

A Conscience on the Middle East

The conversation turns global. Dance says he is “a bit obsessed” with the situation in the Middle East. “Anyone with a conscience should be.” He argues that even if the war stopped tomorrow, there would not be peace until the Balfour Declaration is unpicked. “France and England need to announce: ‘Sorry, we f----d up’.”

He also weighs in on the Royal Opera House controversy, where a chorus member reportedly lost their job after unfurling a Palestinian flag during Il Trovatore. “Did it do any harm? Don’t think it did.”

An Unusual Path

Dance grew up mostly in Plymouth, raised by his mother and stepfather after his father died when he was three. He studied photography before being taught acting by two men who looked like Samuel Beckett and Bertolt Brecht. They became father figures and gave him blunt feedback: “You really aren’t very good, are you? See you next week.”

He joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in the late 1970s and never stopped working. His pathological inability to turn down a part comes, he says, from not coming from a wealthy family. “I need to earn money.”

Creditors runs at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond until October 11. It is sold out, but audiences can catch it online from October 14-17.

Fear, Paranoia and No Plans to Stop

Does he feel he never fulfilled his promise? He struggles to name roles he missed. Maybe Hamlet, he says, “Although when I was at the right age to do so, I probably didn’t know enough.” King Lear? “Oh God. Crikey. I’m not sure about climbing that mountain.”

After Creditors, he has Netflix’s The Day of the Jackal Season 2, in which he plays corrupt financier Timothy Winthrop. But the uncertainty never goes away. “It’s the same for all of us. Talk to Judi Dench, she’ll tell you. We’re all racked with paranoia. We all think ‘They are only here to see me fail’. We all want to be loved. And anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.”

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