ITV's Trigger Point actor Adrian Lester addresses 'box ticking' criticism

Award winning actor Adrian Lester has opened up on inclusion in the entertainment industry. Asked if the quest for diversity in projects sometimes felt like shoe horning things into certain productions to tick a box he strongly disagrees.

"I wouldn't say to tick a box. But I would say that sometimes people can be represented from groups and not have it be a story.

"They can just be there living that has nothing to do with their... they can just be there and have friends who don't belong to a particular persuasion and not have that be the area of tension for the storm. And so that can look like what you mentioned as box ticking but I see it as being something else. Unless the whole idea is terrible," he opined.

Adrian was talking exclusively to Express.co.uk in his capacity as ambassador for the most recent Birmingham Film Market which has opened submissions for its next event. The marketplace provides a place for filmmakers and investment and distribution bodies to connect and gives an equal playing field to everyone who applies irrespective of training or background.

Speaking about the importance of opportunities such as this for people trying to break into the film industry the 55-year-old Birmingham native said: "It is difficult to get new ideas out there, which is why this is so important. With companies coming along to listen to people who have very, very fresh ideas, fresh perspectives on things.

"As long as this keeps being done much not just in Birmingham but all over the country. Then you know what, what we see on our TV screens obviously on our film screens is always going to be a new story a new perspective or something we've talked in the past."

Adrian is a well known face on both stage and screen. His role as Michael "Mickey Bricks" Stone on the higely popular BBC television series Hustle really thrust him into the spotlight. He also starred in the first series of ITV's Trigger Point. But he has a long and incredibly varied CV that has seen him awarded both an OBE and CBE for services to drama.

As a veteran of the industry, he is in a good position to comment on the trend at the moment for production companies seeking "names" and "influencers" to work on their projects regardless of suitability and he concedes: "Yeah, that happens a lot.

"People want the notoriety of the stars or the actors, attached with the directors. They want a track record they want all of that. There's a kind of paradox about it all really because when you talk to these companies and talk to the commissioners, they all say the same thing.

"They all say, ‘we want something new, we want something vibrant, we want something to break the mould. We want something untested, we want something that's really gonna really shake up the industry. Oh my god, did you see that thing? We want something that's dangerous and different.’

"And then people come in and they pitch and they start to talk about directors and writers and actors and then they're faced with the question, ‘yeah, but what have they done before. Is there anything, I can see that they've done. Is there anything I can watch?’

"And you go,'well, if you want new and vibrant and untested and dangerous why are you asking them for a track record because if they're new they don't have a track record.'

"An upsetting idea to the industry is if they're a disrupter, they're not going to have a track record.

"You've got to actually gamble that and just look at talent of story and commitment."

Submissions for this year's Birmingham Film Market are open now.