There’s nothing that screams Friday night quite like settling down for the evening and tuning into The Graham Norton Show - I love it. From Norton’s always A-list sofa to his quippy questions and witty repartee, it is the gold standard in TV talk shows.
Redmayne began discussing his experience of working with a combat expert for his new show. He revealed that he was shown how to use a phone as a weapon should he be attacked. This provoked some joviality, with Mescal riffing on the absurdity – “Who’s actually going to do that, though?”
Ronan, however, was trying to say something and, after initially getting honked over, managed to cut through with a line for the ages: “That’s what girls have to think about all the time”.
Read more: Paul Mescal and Gladiator II: The fate of the cinema is in your hands
saoirse ronan gagging men we love to see it pic.twitter.com/Oyu5cdlPBq
— scarlett 🍒 (@rvdlovess) October 26, 2024
Oooooof - the look on the other actors’ faces after Saoirse detonates this chat-icide bomb is hilariously mesmerising, as is the sudden silence, which although only a split-second served to prolong the discomfort. Ronan obligingly defuses it by provoking audience applause with a rallying, “amirite ladies?”. And then everyone moves on. Well, everyone except the internet, which has been picking over the entrails ever since.
No-one is suggesting that Redmayne, Mescal, Washington or Norton deserve any backlash for what was effectively intended as an amusing anecdote. What people are saying is that the moment was significant and when clips like this go viral, it’s for a reason. The fact is that many women could instantly identify with Ronan’s view.
Read more: Chappell Roan wants to be left alone - Sophie Clarke
Ronan just happened to find the right words in the right moment whilst appearing on primetime television. What makes it somehow more darkly amusing though is that these three male actors are usually portrayed amongst the good guys of showbiz - and I’m sure they are. But what they were unable to do, even with all their combined decades of acting, is think their way into the part of literally any woman, anywhere, walking alone.
Women get quite good at thinking about how they can defend themselves with mundane things like phones, keys or even hairspray if they are attacked. It would be lovely to live without this constant hum of fear, where we could all join in the absurdist joke but sadly recent statistics have made for very sobering reading.
Since 2020, 24 women across Northern Ireland have been killed. The murder of Mary Ward in Belfast last month meant four of these victims were added to this grim tally within six weeks of each other.
It would be lovely to live without this constant hum of fear, where we could all join in the absurdist joke but sadly recent statistics have made for very sobering reading for women
Things are so concerning that a new Northern Ireland Women’s Night Safety Charter has been proposed to Belfast City Council supported by White Ribbon NI, a global movement seeking to end violence against women.
Read more: Immediate progress needed to tackle violence against women - The Irish News view
The increase in violence against women extends beyond Northern Ireland. In Scotland rape allegations have surged by nearly 20%. Police Scotland have launched a campaign to encourage young men to “have a quiet word with a mate” if they see them acting inappropriately towards women.
So perhaps it would have been helpful for Redmayne and Mescal to give us girls a little demonstration of how to defend ourselves with a mobile phone – because as absurd and preposterous as it seemed to them, the combat expert clearly thought it worth knowing…
