Movie News

Firth: 'Londoners too embarrassed to help'

Wed 06 Dec 8:00 AM

Colin Firth has accused Londoners of being "too embarrassed" to help strangers in distress.

The Bridget Jones star was recently filming scenes in Marylebone, central London, for a BBC drama about homelessness called Born Equal, in which he had to shout and be aggressive towards a woman - but was shocked when no one intervened. While most would argue that the film crew would be a reassurance, Firth insisted that folk wouldn't have known he was acting because it was a closed set.

He said: "People don't want to get involved. I think it's embarrassment, which is a British quality.

"I remember Ben Elton joking about an unattended package on the Tube, saying people would probably sit there hoping it would go off rather than face the embarrassment of asking if it belonged to anyone."

And it wasn't his first experience: Firth also told the Radio Times about the time he was filming scenes in London's Kings Road for the 1989 Falklands war TV drama, Tumbledown.

"I had half my brain hanging out and was one-handedly wheeling myself across the road," he said. "Everyone pretended I didn't exist."

Maybe it's just you Colin?