Helen McCrory and husband Damian Lewis have admitted that they’re ‘frustrated’ with experts as they ‘must have been aware’ the COVID-19 crisis was coming.
The Peaky Blinders actress, 51, and Homeland star, 49, have claimed that everyone in that sector must have known that the ‘next great global threat’ would be a pandemic.
So far there have been 65,077 confirmed coronavirus cases and 7,978 deaths in just the UK alone.
‘Frustrated’: Helen McCrory and husband Damian Lewis have admitted that they’re ‘frustrated’ with experts as they ‘must have been aware’ the COVID-19 crisis was coming (pictured in February)
Talking on BBC’s Coronavirus Newscast podcast from their home, Damian said: ‘There have been movie scripts like this, and there have been novels written like this.
‘Thirty years ago they seemed like sci-fi and they were sort of dystopian, futuristic novels. But within the last ten years, everybody has known.
‘This is what is slightly frustrating and you don’t want to throw stones at a time like this, but everyone in that sector must have known, must have been aware that the next great global threat was going to come from a pandemic.
‘A virus spread through air travel around the world simultaneously. In fact, many experts have been saying that.’
Claims: The Peaky Blinders actress, 51, and Homeland star, 49, have claimed that everyone in that sector must have known that the ‘next great global threat’ would be a pandemic (pictured recently on GMB)
Helen also added that she would have turned a film script about the coronavirus down before the pandemic as she would have found it ‘too far-fetched’.
The mother-of-two also candidly spoke about how they’re dealing with lockdown and admitted that she sometimes randomly ‘bursts into tears’.
She said: ‘We’re all doing our bit and not going out. But you feel responsible, you know you’re watching the news, we’re all reading it, we’re all finding out what’s happening over the world, and it’s so overwhelming.
‘It sort of seems, as Damian says, it’s fantastical. You think you’re absolutely fine, you’re pottering along, you’re coping with it. Cleaning, cooking, cleaning, cooking, cleaning, cooking. And you suddenly burst into tears.
‘And it’s this fear, and it’s the vulnerability coming out, and then you pick yourself up and you go along again as if nothing happened. And it’s very surreal.’
Speaking out: Talking on BBC’s Coronavirus Newscast podcast from their home, Damian said: ‘There have been movie scripts like this, and there have been novels written like this. Within the last ten years, everybody has known.’ (pictured in 2019)
Yet despite the ‘overwhelming’ moments, Damian joked that Helen has started a ‘TV affair’ with Alan Partridge.
He quipped: ‘She’s going to love me saying this. She is having a TV screen affair with Steve Coogan. Coogan, if you’re out there, hands off. You’re a mucky pup!’
With Helen joking: ‘A man who can make you laugh! Alan Partridge. Good stuff. Anything he’ll give me…
‘I have met him and he literally flinches when he sees me like he would anybody who you actually have an injunction against.’
In order to help out during the COVID-19 crisis, Helen and Damian have worked with fast food chain Leon on their #FeedNHS campaign. It has raised nearly £1 million.
New role: Helen will be appearing on television screens later this month as Sonia Woodley QC in ITV’s new drama Quiz (pictured in character)
Helen and Damian fell in love when they were both cast in the play Five Gold Rings at the off-West End Almeida Theatre back in 2003.
The celebrity couple raise their two children, 13-year-old daughter Manon and 12-year-old son Gulliver.
Helen will be appearing on television screens later this month as Sonia Woodley QC in ITV’s new drama Quiz.
The mini-series documents Charles and Diana Ingram’s plot to try and cheat their way to the top prize on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in 2001 with the help of contestant Tecwen Whittock, who would cough to indicate the correct answer.
Quiz begins on Monday 13th April and will air over three nights at 9pm on ITV.
Plot: The mini-series documents Charles and Diana Ingram’s plot to try and cheat their way to the top prize on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in 2001 with the help of contestant Tecwen Whittock, who would cough to indicate the correct answer (pictured in show still)