Projects where female actors are paid less than male counterparts should be rejected, he says

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Benedict Cumberbatch has urged the film industry to reject projects in which female actors are paid less than their male counterparts.

In an interview with the Radio Times to mark the premiere of Patrick Melrose, Cumberbatch said: “Equal pay and a place at the table are the central tenets of feminism. Look at your quotas. Ask what women are being paid, and say: ‘If she’s not paid the same as the men, I’m not doing it’.”

Patrick Melrose, a Sky Atlantic series based on the novels of Edward St Aubyn, is the first show from Cumberbatch’s production company, SunnyMarch.

Cumberbatch said SunnyMarch’s next project would be about motherhood “with a female lens”. “If it’s centred around my name, to get investors, then we can use that attention for a raft of female projects.”