Dame Helen Mirren has said that the BBC "must be protected," amid an uncertain future over its funding.
The admission comes ahead of the release of the new film the Duke - in which the acclaimed actor, 76, plays the wife of a man who refused to buy a TV licence.
She plays charlady Dorothy Bunton in the project, who is the worn-down spouse of real-life character Kempton Bunton, played by fellow Oscar winner Jim Broadbent, 72.
