Dominic West has spoken out in support of his former co-star’s criticisms of The Affair.
British actor West, who got his big TV break as maverick policeman McNulty in The Wire and most recently starred as Prince Charles in the final two series of The Crown, filmed five seasons of the hit drama on Showtime, but his co-star Ruth Wilson was written out of the series after four.
In 2020, Wilson – who it is speculated signed an NDA on her departure – recalled that “things didn’t feel right” on the show, she didn’t always “feel safe” and raised the particular concern that, during the filming of sex scenes, the cameras always focused on her “orgasm face,” not that of male actors’.
In an interview with The Times of London, West hesitated to contribute to the discussion, but he lent his support to Wilson, saying: “We talked a lot about it and I suppose I did experience it. I don’t really like talking about it but … yeah, everything Ruth has said is absolutely right.”
In the same interview, West – who went to elite public school Eton attended by royals – said of his performance as the unarguably posh Prince Charles in The Crown, that his real-life wife – Catherine FitzGerald, former Viscountess Lambton, gardener to the upper classes and with her own family castle in Ireland – doesn’t think he does “posh” convincingly.
He said: “My wife who is genuinely upper class, always tells me, ‘You’re much better in the working-class parts, you’re not very good as upper class, you’re not convincing at all.’ And I agree with her.”
“I’m McNulty, and I’m Jean Valjean [in a TV version of Les Misérables] and I’m Iago [with a broad Yorkshire accent in a theatre production of Othello in 2011]. I think those are my best roles. Some people look good in stiff collars, but I don’t think I’m one of them. I understand upper-class attitudes and ways, and I like those characters, but as an outsider.”