Game of Thrones actor says Labour leader talks sense and believes British cultural output ignores working-class stories as a result of American influences

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The actor Sean Bean has lent his backing to Jeremy Corbyn, saying the Labour leader talks sense.



The Game of Thrones and Sharpe star described himself as an old Labour supporter and lauded Corbyn as a leader who stands up for working-class people and whose voice needed to be heard in Britain.

Bean was careful, however, to point out that that did not mean he supported a return to the widespread industrial conflict that marked much of UK politics in the 1980s.

Speaking to reporters, he described his upbringing in Sheffield, which he called a firmly socialist city. And he said modern British cultural output was ignoring working-class stories.

He said American viewers have driven demand for a picture of Britain that was “rosy (and) upper-class”, adding that “real stories about working people aren’t getting told”.

“This Is England was great – and you remember Gary Oldman doing The Firm? Magnificent. Jimmy McGovern – I love his writing, and I’m a big fan of him and Alan Clarke. That’s my personal choice, and that’s what I’m good at. But it’s a make-believe view of England that our friends across the pond seem to prefer.”



He made the comments, which were reported by the Radio Times, at a press conference for his new series, the Frankenstein Chronicles. “There’s a lot about this story that resonates today. From the social issues to the cover-ups. It all sounds familiar and nothing’s changed,” he said.

Bean says his character in Frankenstein Chronicles, Inspector John Marlott, is “an ordinary man who has been thrown into that elite world and who challenges these people”.

And, in the real world, he says, Corbyn is “sticking up for the working-class man and it’s time we heard that voice again”.

In the six-part ITV drama, Bean plays a Peeler – the forerunner to today’s police force – in 19th-century London. He discovers a body washed up from the Thames that he finds is, similar to Frankenstein’s monster, stitched together from human body parts.

Echoing Sky’s Penny Dreadful, it tinkers with gothic literary themes and storylines. The first episode is due to air on 11 November.