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Neo2199 OP t1_j9u7flc wrote

> Amanda Abbington has revealed she believes “nepotism” helped land her role in hit BBC drama Sherlock.

> Abbington was cast as Mary Watson, the wife of Sherlock Holmes’ friend and detective partner Doctor John Watson in 2014. At the time, Abbington was in a long-term relationship with Martin Freeman, who played Watson.

> “Because I was with Martin at the time, there was a lot of [accusations of] nepotism being banded about,” she told the Full Disclosure podcast. “It’s true, it was that.

> “Both Mark [Gatiss] and Steven [Moffat, the show’s writers] said they were trying to figure out who the best person would be to play Mary and they thought it would be the person who was going out with him.

> “It made sense. And we’d worked together on many things.”

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InflamedLiver t1_j9u8635 wrote

I suppose at least she's honest about it. She wasn't my favorite character on the show, but I blame the writing for that more than the acting.

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Theinternationalist t1_j9wgsdv wrote

Honestly, she seemed to be the only interesting bit of that terrible S3E1 episode and had some promise- until she got killed off unceremoniously.

That being said, S3 was around the time everyone noticed the wheels falling off (not just the people who thought they were getting a mystery show when it was mostly an action thing to begin with), so that probably made her worse than she could have been too...

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InflamedLiver t1_j9wn3hb wrote

the show kinda jumped the shark after Moriarty and Sherlock's "death." Moriarty was amazing and everything after that was just ok, at best.

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Cappy2020 t1_j9wfiaw wrote

To be fair, this is the BBC where nepotism is rife.

It’s an old boys club, not so much in terms of gender, but the amount of people who make it to the BBC who come from wealthy, connected and independent/privately educated backgrounds. Something like 7% of all people in the UK are privately educated, yet they make up a far higher proportion of BBC ‘talent’.

For a broadcasting service that is supposed to be representative of us - the people who watch and pay for it - it’s pretty disappointing to be honest.

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HalfYeti t1_j9uoc17 wrote

Would you call that nepotism? They cast Benedicts real life parents as Sherlocks parents, so why not Martins partner as Mary? Would they have done it if she wasn't an actor?

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SuspendedInKarmaMama t1_j9wakoe wrote

Yeah, I don't care about nepotism if that person is actually involved with the project.

Like, who would give a shit if a director cast their so-so actress daughter in one of their films, it's a different thing entirely if he pulls some strings to get her cast in an unrelated project.

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Asiriya t1_j9wh685 wrote

That’s still nepotism…

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Lil_Mcgee t1_j9y1w24 wrote

They never suggested otherwise. Their first sentence reads "I don't care about nepotism if..."

You're free to disagree and say these examples of nepotism are still wrong but pay attention to what is actually being argued.

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lilykitsune t1_j9yie93 wrote

The "oh and by the way we've worked together before and have chemistry that could be important in a series that is heavily reliant on chemistry." being slipped in at the end of the quote is a little bit of a throw.

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Lost_Hunter3601 t1_j9ue8wd wrote

The nepo baby thing is dumb cause it exists in every industry. Somewhere out there there’s a hospital director in a hospital giving unearned raises/jobs to their kin. There’s a blue collar warehouse manager doing it. There’s a McDonald’s owner doing it.

There’s nothing wrong with using connections to get the job initially, the problem is if you underperform/mess up the and the favoritism doesn’t stop. Kind of like Clint Eastwoods son who can’t act for shit.

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qtx t1_j9v8wx4 wrote

It's not really about nepotism per se, it's about these so-called nepo babies acting like they got to where they are now all because of their hard work and being better than others. They refuse to acknowledge that nepotism played a major part in that. That's the real issue at hand.

They would have never gotten there without nepotism.

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filthysize t1_j9vs308 wrote

My personal pet peeve is when I hear them say things like "I used a pseudonym so I wouldn't get preferential treatment in the industry." Like, you can't be that naive. It's fine, dude, you're obviously talented, it's ok to say you got a leg up.

Allison Williams really has the right attitude.

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SenorArthurVandelay t1_j9vrofz wrote

Yea, as long as people are honest and grateful and recognize how lucky they are they’ll get a lot of leeway.

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Dear-Attempt-2182 t1_j9vhdk4 wrote

Arguably, the Hollywood difference is that it's an industry with relatively limited spots for who gets to star in a (non-independent) movie or TV show, and all of them are built on so many levels of gatekeeping.

There's thousands and thousands of hospitals and blue collar warehouses and McDonald's locations. Each movie studio only makes a dozen-ish movies a year. Each network only makes so many scripted series a year.

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pvypvMoonFlyer t1_j9vt7tz wrote

I agree, the comparison with Mc Donald’s and the hospitals is nonsensical, nepotism really only hurts an industry with limited spots.

That’s why it is such a problem in the movie industry and not so much in the fast food sector.

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Trot1995 t1_j9yki0l wrote

I got my first Job out of college thanks to my roomates Dad. He worked for the company in another department. He headed the hardware side of IT. They lost a software engineer and I had just graduated with my degree in software engineering. He told me to apply and I did.

I still needed to get thourgh the interview process, but his recommendation helped me as a fresh college grad with no industry experience. It's turned out great. I got a job my direct supervisors very happy with my preformance, and I got promoted recently, but without that connection there is no garuntee I would have got my foot in the door.

Connections are important they can open doors and give you opportunities. As long as you got the talent and skill to capitalize on those opportunities it's fine imo.

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teachertraveler1 t1_j9y8a5y wrote

Nepotism is about power. Who holds power and how it is used. Denying power dynamics in any industry is disastrous. Wealth brings a lot of power. In a place like the US, it's the difference between having a good attorney and getting a light sentence or being stuck in jail for months without being charged. I mean look at SFG. He's on $250million bail chilling at his parents' mansion. Most parents in the world don't have that kind of power.

So in acting which can be a very secretive, back channel deal kind of industry, power means access to people and opportunities that other people are shut out from. There are no repercussions if Jess Smith from Wolverton didn't get the part. But there may be very real repercussions if Major Movie Star's child doesn't get the part. People in the industry who don't have that kind of power aren't dumb. They know how precarious things can be. It's only the people who have only ever known access and power who think that it does not make their road smooth.

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HalfYeti t1_j9uot92 wrote

Agreed. I got my first job because of my dad and then a couple of years later, my mum joined us both. In my case, they needed warm bodies to fill space and i needed a job, and in my mums case, she made my life hell. I wouldn't call myself a nepotism baby in that sense but I'd call her worse.

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sweetpeapickle t1_j9uyi5z wrote

It's called family business, which was the backbone of this country. So why it is a "thing" now when there is a whole lot of actual bad things going on in the world, & people keep bringing this up....

BTW, I grew up in a family business, as did my parents(different business industry). And it's how I learned from that experience along with going to school for it-to have my own for over 25 years.

Her getting this role, due to being in a relationship is one thing that makes sense for the role she played. People always go one about how this or that couple have "no chemistry". Well this is one way to obtain it onscreen.

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QuintoBlanco t1_j9v91k6 wrote

There is a difference between a family business, and people getting hired for jobs in a business that is not owned by their family because of personal relationships.

Also, not caring about a thing, because there are other things that are worse isn't a sign of great intelligence.

And if you do want to us that argument: nepotism is part of a bigger problem, people gaining power and influence because of social background rather than knowledge and skill.

That would be less of a problem is society made it easier for people who don't have a support network to get ahead in life.

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gong_yi_tan_pai t1_j9v0ah9 wrote

I mean there’s nothing necessarily “wrong” with it per se. As you said family businesses are a thing and there’s nothing necessarily wrong with those.

I believe what people have issue with is when people who were a product of nepotism or got where there are because they were in a family business act like they did it all on their own or were somehow better than others etc.

Using the term “nepo baby” is calling out those people. It’s like saying “no you didn’t get to where you are because you’re so much better than other qualified people, you just had help from your family.”

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anasui1 t1_j9ujtdv wrote

Good for her to talk freely about it, although I'm not sure why she is doing it

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jackolantern_ t1_j9vua0s wrote

Terribly written character. Wasn't sad to see her die

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Albertsongman t1_j9xjjyj wrote

Good for her. It’s not just what you know, it’s who you know.

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[deleted] t1_j9wgs76 wrote

[deleted]

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Asiriya t1_j9wi3jp wrote

“You were a really strong candidate, the best actually, but the position has been filled”…

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NeekoPeeko t1_j9zjn0k wrote

It would be news if an actor WASN'T helped by nepotism

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Dennyisthepisslord t1_j9ujah3 wrote

Quite funny she failed the audition to be his girlfriend in the office. Ricky gervais would mention Martin and her occasionally on his xfm radio showcase they used to socialize together. Bet that was awkward

But this is a nothing headline isn't it? It's very different nepo baby issues.

Matthew McFadden and Keeley Hawes just played a husband and wife in a itv series about a real MP who faked his death. That must have been weird to play and then go home together!

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[deleted] t1_j9up30g wrote

Surely, that was the idea?

You didn't want somebody that looked perfect with Tim, because the aim was to make Dawn look like a much better fit?

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