Robert Carlyle: Reality TV makes me sick

Robert Carlyle: Reality TV makes me sick
Robert Carlyle: Reality TV makes me sick (Image credit: PA Archive/Press Association Ima)

Robert Carlyle has hit out at reality TV shows, saying they are killing off drama. The Trainspotting and Full Monty star told Radio Times that Big Brother should have been a one-off. "Reality shows make me sick," he said. "I remember many years ago thinking the first Big Brother was amazing; but it should never have happened more than once. "Those people in that first show had no idea what was going on outside, didn't adjust their behaviour accordingly. Now they're all doing that so you don't get any sense of real people at all. It's the death of drama." Robert said becoming a father had changed his approach to roles. "There are certain parts nowadays that I would turn against. If I had to play someone who was harming children, I couldn't do that. In the past I would have done anything," he said. The Scottish star now lives in Canada and has no intention of returning any time soon. "At this point in my life I'm happy here in Vancouver, although I miss a lot of stuff culturally and I feel for the people back home just now because I know that the country's been through some pretty tough times," he told the magazine.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.