Sarah Parish hopes her new drama Curfew will “start a debate and an argument” about male violence against women.
The actress said the show’s premise of a 12-hour curfew on men every night was “too extreme”, suggesting education and “opening a dialogue with younger boys” as the key to solving the problem.
The Paramount+ show is set in the Republic Of Great Britain after a left-wing revolution, which imposes the curfew amid lesbian separatism, terrorism, and chemical weapon attacks.
“…I hope this programme will start a debate and an argument,” she said on Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time podcast.
The 56-year-old continued: “I mean, personally, a curfew on all men I don’t think would ever work. It’s too extreme.
“It’s ridiculous and it’s unfair.
“I think the answer to the ongoing violence problem (against women), and there is a problem, there has been a problem for years – is education.
“It’s how we educate men, how we educate our sons, how we educate young men in school, what they get to watch on the internet, the kind of people they are influenced by on the internet.
“It’s about opening a dialogue with younger boys and making it not awkward and not embarrassing and making it very transparent and just educating.”
Parish said some people will find the programme “very uncomfortable”, but she would “rather be in something that is going to ruffle feathers than something that just sort of is a bit meh”.
The Broadchurch actress also revealed how Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden got her the audition for BBC drama Cutting It in the early 2000s, in which the pair star as hairdressers with rival salons.
“I wasn’t even down to audition for that part and Amanda Holden had already been cast, and this is how brilliant she is. She said, ‘I’ve been cast in this thing called Cutting It and the other part, the other lead is perfect for you,” Parish said.
“So I’m going to ring my agent and tell her to ring them and say, ‘you’ve got to see Sarah Parish’.
“…And then she also said, ‘I’m only doing it if you get paid the same as me’.”
Kate Thornton’s White Wine Question Time is available to listen to on all podcast platforms.
