‘Elitism’ holds back working-class women from acting, Culture Secretary told

Hollyoaks star Isabelle Smith has told Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy that getting into acting is already “hard enough for a working-class female”, as she spoke about how she feels the sector is elitist.

The soap actress, who won best newcomer at the Inside Soap Awards 2024 for playing Francine “Frankie” Osborne in the Channel 4 soap, highlighted her concerns about the arts industry as Ms Nandy launched the National Youth Strategy survey.

On the set of Hollyoaks in Merseyside, Smith recalled that after graduating from drama school she was “unsure” of her next steps, along with her friends, as “it’s not very easy to get a job… especially in an arts industry”.

She added: “I was fortunate enough to to land this (acting) job, but now I’m in a position where most of my money goes to pay off my maintenance loan and my student loan, and that comes with a very high level of interest that is placed on top of the extortionate amount of money that I already owe.

She said there was a “misconception” that acting work gives you a lot of money, and it was an “elitist industry”.

Smith said: “People have paid to go to private school, or to (drama school) Rada whatever, you’re constantly having to prove yourself into every room that you’re going into, because you’ve maybe not had the same education as other people that you (are) sat next to.”

She said the Government should back the “working class just a little bit more”, and needed to “take us more seriously”.

“And it would be great if we could do, not just a programme of government support for working-class young people to be able to break into the arts.

“But we could also run a campaign on it, with people like you fronting it up to say, look, you can do this, and actually, you don’t have to struggle as much as you did, because there’s support available for it.”

Smith said there is “anxiety, because (you think) you’re never going to work, and it’s like that, one in a million people that make it”.

She added: “If we just made it a little bit more accessible, I think people would be astounded at the difference that it actually makes.”

Hollyoaks, aimed at a young demographic, began in 1995.

According to the Creative Industries Policy and Evidence Centre, fewer than 10% of people from the TV, video, radio and photography sectors were from working class backgrounds in 2023.