Morning:
13°c
An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
Ministry of Defence spent £149 million on an "urgent" upgrade to 900 tanks that are now only being used in training exercises, it was revealed
More...
Jonathan Creek star Alan Davies Twitters about 25% pay cut
Last updated at 12:35pm on 02.09.09Alan Davies said he has had his pay slashed by a quarter to star in a new episode of the BBC's popular sleuth show Jonathan Creek.
Pay cut: Alan Davies
A 90-minute special, titled The Judas Tree, is due to air next Easter, and the 43-year-old actor said he starts filming this month.
Writing on the Twitter website, Davies said: "just had a 25% pay cut on Jonathan Creek. The BBC are 'driving down talent costs'!"
A spokesman at Davies's agent's firm declined to comment, though a source confirmed the cut had happened as part of the corporation's efforts to reduce stars' pay.
Davies plays the title role in the programme, which follows the adventures of a master of illusion who uses his talent and intellect to explain the unexplainable.
A New Year special of the show, titled The Grinning Man and also starring Sheridan Smith, was a ratings hit and pulled in around nine million viewers.
A BBC spokesman said: "We don't comment on current salaries or contracts."
Davies later said on his page that he was not annoyed by the reduction in his pay, but added that "the design budget has been cut by more than half".
He also said on the site he was worried and "absolutely it will effect (sic) the show. ...I'm all for 'driving down' exec costs ..."
Yesterday, it emerged that Paul O'Grady has threatened to leave Channel 4 over plans to slash his chat show's budget in half.
He told the Daily Mirror: "Cutting it by half is outrageous ...
"You're going to end up with the blandest of the bland and I won't be part of it."
Channel 4 declined to comment and said it did not discuss contracts.
Related articles
Reader views (6)
The game's up mate. You have written cheques your talent can't cash.
- Jonathan Anthony, Haslemere
Never watched it. Jonathan who?
- David, Fleet UK
Why not cut the costs by 100% and put an end to this boring dribble.
- David, London
He's lucky, I haven't had my TV licence cut by 25%!
- Philip, London, England
New J Creek Plot : "JC is trapped in goods lift with no apparent way out"
The entire episode is shot through the lift's cheap security camera meaning that the talent (Alan) can only be seen for 3/4 of the time. This one-man hour long special ends with realisation that he is trapped in an allegory for his own career and the lift is only ever going down.
- Hansel, London
they could drive it down another 50% and he would still be over paid and where did this word talent spring from because you would never use it in the same sentence as with alan davies
- Anon, leicestershire
