Vicky McClure is delighted with her success in Line of Duty, but is sick of being asked when she’s moving on to Hollywood.
Her role as undercover cop Detective Inspector Kate Fleming has made her one of biggest names on British TV.
But the 39-year-old says she’s fed up with the perception that if you don’t progress to Hollywood you have failed.
She adds: “It’s as if there’s a ladder we’ve all got to climb.
“Looking at my career now, if someone had presented it to me years ago and said ‘Will you be happy with that?’ I would have gone ‘I’d be ecstatic’.
“Whereas now it feels that if you haven’t made Hollywood you haven’t completed the task.”
Vicky, whose 2006 breakthrough film This is England later became a mini series, still struggles to come to terms with success and has to pinch herself when invited on to The Graham Norton Show.
She says: “When I look at what happened with This Is England compared to what happened with Line of Duty, it’s two very different beasts.
"This Is England is quite niche and has a very hardcore audience whereas Line of Duty has a much more global scope.
“I am still just gobsmacked I’m here. I know people might think ‘Oh, full of s**t’. It’s not. I’ve got used to what I do.
“I’ve done Graham Norton three times or something. That’s just weird.
“I never thought I’d ever make it on to those shows. I used to watch it as a kid and think ‘Can you imagine me being on that?’”
Vicky, who stars alongside Kelly Macdonald in Line of Duty, says that the most recent series, which aired on BBC1 last year, eclipsed everything that went before.
Speaking on the The Proper Class Podcast she said: “The first three series were on BBC2. People enjoyed it but it doesn’t have the same momentum. Then it just started to build and build.
“The last series was just bonkers. We were in still in Covid and people needed escapism. A lot of people were at home … and it was a lot!”
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