Former Shameless star Maxine Peake says big screen films are a class act when it comes to top roles for leading ladies.
“It’s still rife. We’re still obsessed with accent and class in this country,” claimed the Salford-based actress, who was born and raised in Bolton.
“If you look at actors, loads are working class. But look at women and there’s only Samantha Morton, really. All the others - Kate Winslet, Keira Knightley, Emily Blunt, Rebecca Hall - they’re all brilliant, but there’s no female working class.”
She told Radio Times: “I remember feeling at drama school that if you were male and working class you were a bit of a poet, a working class hero, but if you were female you were just a bit gobby and a bit brassy and common."
Peake, 36, said people expected her to be like her Chatsworth estate character Veronica in real life, simply because of her broad Lancashire accent.
She explained: “My mum was mortified when I was playing Veronica. She was like, ‘Well, people will think that’s where you’re from, Maxine.’ I’m from a council estate, but there are council estates and council estates.”
Two years ago she played the posh wife of a lawyer in acclaimed TV drama Criminal Justice. “One paper said, ‘In the opening scene you see her getting into a 4X4 and at first you assume she must be stealing it.’ They’re so classist in this country.”
Her latest lead role is as barrister Martha Costello in new BBC1 drama series Silk, which begins next Tuesday.
Asked how she had managed to join the leading lady elite, the former Dinnerladies star replied: “It’s because I’m stubborn, I suppose. But I’ve been around long enough - I’m obviously very popular with the middle classes. I’m their little bit of rough.”
But Peake, who trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, said she still faced class ignorance. “For Silk I had to soften my accent. They go, ‘OK, so this character is from the north but she went to university, Maxine, and has lived in London for 10 years.’
“So I went, ‘OK, well I went to RADA and lived in London for 13 years,’ and they go, ‘Yeah, but she’s lost her accent a bit more than you have.’”
Peake, who played Myra Hindley in award-winning drama See No Evil, sat on a bench next to a judge at the Old Bailey as part of her research.
As a youngster she wasn’t always on the right side of the law. “I used to do the old Saturday shoplifting that everyone did, stealing **** you didn’t need. But I wasn’t very good at it. I always thought the store detective would follow me.
“I’ve not really done anything particularly illegal. The only thing I did do - can I get into trouble for this? - I did steal someone else’s polling card and voted. I didn’t get one and my flatmate said, ‘I’m not voting,’ and she just left it where all the post was, so I voted for her. I just thought it was a waste.”
Peake was told at drama school that she was not leading lady material. At the time she was 15 stone and later lost a third of that weight for both health and professional reasons.
She initially lost confidence and today says she still considers herself to be a fat person, despite her physical appearance, having put on a little bit of weight.
“I hate myself because I think there are more important things in the world than your bloody waist size - for God’s sake, woman, get over it.”
Why are cinema's leading ladies all so posh? Maxine Peake condemns lack of roles for working class actresses
February 15, 2011
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"We’re still obsessed with accent and class in this country...If you look at actors, loads are working class. But look at women and there’s only Samantha Morton." Yes it appears we really are still obsesssed with accent and class, aren't we? Move on - the working class as we knew it ceased to exist when industrial society went - you've got Maggie to blame/thank for that depending on your views. And what about accent, when trying to sound like the Gallagher brothers etc. is "well cool" for teenagers from Bramhall or and radio DJs stand a better chance of a job if they exaggerate their accents like Terry Christian than if they speak received pronunciation, it says little about a person any more. It's the same in the south. I meet people who sound like they're straight off the cast of Eastenders and when I ask 'What part of London are you from then?" They say "Oh, actually I'm from Devon."
“I used to do the old Saturday shoplifting that everyone did"
No, not everyone. Just those with sticky fingers & no morals.
"I’ve not really done anything particularly illegal. The only thing I did do - can I get into trouble for this? - I did steal someone else’s polling card and voted."
Her definition of illegal must be vastly different to normal people, she excludes theft & fraud!
Obnoxious and stupid.
Your with the wrong fella love, my woman has always had the leading role since I can remember!
Yawn..forget war, poverty and the national debt; this is far more important.
Could it be because we are one of the most elitist societies in Britain, where personal connections are the biggest determinant of success?
What the hell is this all about. What a pile off rubbish Ya de Ya De Ya.
an interesting perspective
Life's cruel.
Would Maxine have a career if she wasn't very pretty? [which she is]
Chip on shoulder?
Robert Shaw was born in West Houghton and some say he did very well given his accent, even though he did have a small boat.
Can't see the problem, if you want to watch chavs on TV then Jeremy Kyle et al will provide.
Personally I'd rather have actresses who can speak English correctly.
You seem to forget Maxine. The American market prefer a clean standard or well educated accent. As does the majority of other cultures around the globe. People learn faster by listening to BBC World Service broadcast, due too the standards set in grammar and clear use of the English language. Regional accents are only good enough for soaps. People look up to actors as a mark with people like Robert Powell (OLDHAM) Sir Ian Mckellen Michael Caine and ilk. Maybe you should question the roles your given more.
Maxine Peake is a brilliant actress, she trained in her art and has probably got first hand experience of the snobbery that still makes people think Northerners are just whippet-walking, bingo-going, ferret-fondling chimney sweeps. The north has produced some formidable female talent over the years and we should be proud of it.
Victoria Wood, Pat Phoenix, Jane Horrocks, Judi Dench, Sue Johnston, Kathy Staff, Patricia Routlege, Glenda Jackson, Caroline Aherne, Jean Alexander............
I thought she was best in Early Doors. Becoming a bit of a forgotten classic that series.
I had an accent once upon a time, then sold it and got another car...
e by gum lass, you look very nice to me. i dont care how you accent sounds.