Poldark actor Richard Harrington has revealed how he got a job as a takeaway delivery driver after being left jobless with a lockout.
The 45-year-old, who has also appeared in Hinterland, The Crown and Gangs of London, said he took up the job in the capital last year after canceling the spring and summer projects. because of the pandemic.
He told BBC Wales: “I did nothing between March and September. I got a job with Deliveroo – I went around on my bike taking food with people to London. I’m usually pretty straightforward but the first lock turned into a lock. So I was really thankful to be able to get on my bike every day. ”
Harrington and his partner, actress Hannah Daniel, are expecting their second child later this year.
His experience mirrors that of many other actors during the pandemic, with the creative industries some of the toughest. Equity, which represents people working in the arts, estimates that 40% of members have not received financial support from government hard or self-employed grant schemes. They were either forced into global credit or taken work outside the industry.
Anna-Jane Casey, who has appeared in West End shows including Chicago and Billy Elliot, and her husband, Graham MacDuff, who is also an actress, had to find work when houses closed played in March last year. They used the last of their savings to buy a £ 3,000 second-hand Vauxhall Vivaro van and began delivering goods across Kent to a courier company in June.
In December last year, Bill Ward, a former Coronation Street and Emmerdale actor, told BristolLive that he had been working about 30 hours a week as a delivery driver for Tesco since the end of May . The father of two had been touring around the Glee Club before the first national lock came to a halt.
Last month, Asa Elliot, who appeared on the ITV Benidorm sitcom between 2010 and 2014, told BBC Look North that he had been working as Asda ‘s delivery driver since July last year. Elliot had been singing on cruise ships before the virus struck.
Equity general secretary Paul Fleming has said that the struggle of the actors and others employed in the arts is likely to lead to an “increasingly elitist creative industry”, as those in hardship and forced to work in other sectors are more likely to be from working-class backgrounds or marginalized groups.