Hugh, meet Claire. Claire, meet Hugh. Claire has some guidance that might prove useful for you, Hugh. Should, that is, you not want to come across as any more of an ignorant buffoon than you do already.

The problem for Bonneville is that details do matter. And there is a big issue with the detail of his rant

To explain: over the weekend, Claire Foy – Queen Elizabeth in the first series of The Crown – had a message that some of her peers could do with taking note of: stick to reading scripts. The fact you might play the role of someone with insights worth listening to doesn’t mean that you actually have insights worth listening to, only that someone handed you a good script with some words to read out. Or, as she put it: ‘I have absolutely no authority to discuss or proclaim about anything other than what I do as an actor…If you’re just making noise for the sake of it, then you should probably shut up – so I tend to shut up.’

It’s wise advice – and the sagacity of her words was immediately highlighted by another actor, Hugh Bonneville of Downton Abbey and Paddington fame. Highlighted, that is, not because Bonneville restrained himself from sharing his views on a matter of global importance, but the opposite: Bonneville posted a rant on social media effectively demanding that the rest of us pay heed to his words. Conceding that,........

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