Class war in the arts

James Blunt responded by accusing Bryant of teaching "the politics of envy", but the debate hasn't gone away and last week, Glasgow-born actor James McAvoy said that while "nobody has got anything against an actor who is posh and is doing really well", he is worried about the lack of opportunities in the arts for people from different backgrounds.

Is he right? Oh, yes. Last week, we learned that the gap between the richest and poorest is as wide as it was in the Victorian era. And there is no doubt that the old guard are back in full charge, with a wealthy, privileged, white, male, public school/Oxbridge elite dominating our culture, including our arts institutions, film and TV industries.

But since merely asking the question is viewed as impertinent by the "toffs", and we "oiks" are branded graceless and jealous, may I state categorically that I have no envy. I'm one of the lucky ones who comes from a working-class background, and has made a very good living in the arts and media in this country for more than 30 years. Serious questions need to be asked, however, on behalf of the new generations who don't have a hope in hell of having the chances and career that I and many others have enjoyed.

I'm with Julie Walters, who argued recently that "working-class kids aren't represented" in the arts, adding: "Working-class life is not referred to. It's really sad. I think it means we're going to get loads more middle-class drama. It will be middle-class people playing working-class people, like it used to be."

Like Walters, I was brought up in an era when advancement for the working classes in education, art, culture, politics and business was possible - incredibly difficult for women, of course, but still possible.

I think I was the first young woman in Motherwell to get to drama school and pursue a life in the arts. I was a bit of a show-off, lippy and funny as well as being able to sing and act. I did my bit in school plays and musicals but I'd only ever been to the theatre once with the Girl Guides to see the Alexander Brothers in a variety show so that was hardly the RSC. I thought the only path open to me was as a singer in clubs or with bands.

But at that time, with no access to professional theatre, I was able to watch plays, dramas, comedies about the lives of all people across the UK from many backgrounds and working-class stories were deemed as a valid contribution. We could watch mainstream shows like Coronation Street, Till Death Us Do Part, The Liver Birds, Auf Weidershen Pet. Dramas and films by the likes of Ken Loach, Peter MacDougall, John McGrath, John Byrne, Alan Bleasdale, Carla Lane and Willy Russell. They reflected working-class life (albeit generally white and male and written by white males) but it was a life I recognised with a subject matter that was deemed important enough and worthy of making films, plays and dramas about.

I watched a lot of American movies too and I've always maintained that Scots queued around the block for American films rather than British/English/Ealing Studios productions (again, posh accents and stories about posh folk in the main) because they were about ordinary Joes and Jaynes struggling or thriving or dancing and singing - their lives were deemed as worthy of being told. And Jimmy Cagney or Gene Kelly or Doris Day were like us.

But one night in the mid 1970s watching John McGrath's The Cheviot, The Stag And The Black, Black Oil on TV changed everything for me. I heard my own voice, my own accent telling a story about the bit of land that I lived in and it was played by real Scots (not posh actors pretending) and I knew that that was what I wanted to do.

Thanks to some teachers encouraging me and a pal who did elocution lessons telling me about the RSAMD, I decided to audition but even then I wanted to become a drama teacher because I didn't know what an actor really was. Aged 17, I arrived at drama school straight from Braidhurst High comprehensive school ... and a whole secret world was opened to me. I'd never met anyone from public school, but there was a girl in my year who'd been at Swiss finishing school and whose parents "dressed for dinner" of an evening - in their own house! Were people like her at an advantage? Hell, yes. Their confidence and knowledge were on a scale I'd never encountered and I spent the first year running to catch up ... and ashamed of my accent, my background, my education and my ignorance.

Going to Glasgow's Citizens Theatre to see 7:84 Theatre Company in John McGrath's Out Of Our Heads was another life-changer. I wanted to stand up and shout: "That's it! That's what I want to do - tell stories and sing songs that are relevant to the people who are sitting here and tell it wonderfully." Of course, I still didn't know how to do it. I also had access to the Young Lyceum Theatre Company, The Traverse, Borderline, Wildcat - all touring and performing and using talented people from all backgrounds. At that time, even the BBC were commissioning plays like Just Another Saturday by the great Peter MacDougall.

I was lucky because I was around at a real time of opportunity and transition that I know isn't there at the moment. (Much as I enjoy a bit of escape in the soap opera about posh folk, I see Downton Abbey as no better than Coronation Street - in fact, Corrie is funnier and a bit more exciting). Mainly though it would have been impossible for me to think about or pursue that life as an actor, had the financial burden not been lifted from my parents in the form of a grant.

And that's the difference. It is now only kids from better-off backgrounds who can think of acting, writing or painting as a career because of the financial constraints that many have to put up with. I've lost count of the number of projects that I've worked on in theatre and TV where the runners and assistants are all doing it for nothing. They want the experience, which is great, but you can only do that if you have parents or family who can support you.

Internships from the law to journalism to the arts are only available to the wealthy. I have also watched as the new girl or boy from Oxbridge arrives knowing nothing about the culture and landscape here but everything about career-building, then quickly make their way to producer status.

And who can blame parents who know how the game works from sending their kids to a posh private school if they can? No-one wants their children disadvantaged but that's why it's so important that as a society we provide the equality and diversity of opportunity to stop parents having to make those choices. A leftie, good socialist pal in London justified sending her kids to public school because she "wanted them to talk properly" ie not to talk like me.

The wonderful writer Denise Mina and I had this very discussion recently, getting more angry and outraged as we acknowledged the present situation and the prejudice faced as women artists who don't emanate from the rich and privileged classes. Before our generations, art was seen as the prerogative of the upper classes, who could pursue and create an artistic life because they didn't need to make a living at it.

It seems there is a view abroad now that believes that the Victorian archetype of an artist is correct and what we should return to. Those of us who make a living at creating art, music, literature and culture are just craftspeople or artisans, not real artists.

During the referendum campaign many discussions were had about the control of our culture here in Scotland. At one point an audit was even proposed to actually find out who was in charge of all our educational establishments, art and drama schools, universities, galleries, theatre companies, opera, ballet, festivals and so on.

The question being asked was: "How many non-Scots run our institutions and what class do they come from? What impact does that have on us culturally as a nation?

However, we were discouraged from even asking those questions because of how it would be portrayed by the media - a rabid Unionist machine would make mincemeat out of us, calling us racist and anti-English. We had witnessed the savage knee-jerk reactions to Alasdair Gray - who said aloud what many thought but said it in a way that left an open goal for certain sections of the press.

But surely, any forward-thinking country concerned about the preservation of its cultural base would ask those questions? If all the cultural institutions in France were run by Germans, Austrians or Americans and if they all came from the same public schools or had similar backgrounds, there would be an outcry.

I don't blame the individuals, who are simply simply applying for a job, hoping to get it and do their best. The real question is why our boards and cultural bodies seem to believe that someone - anyone - from outside of our culture would know better how to develop it, promote it and be part of it. One or two individuals may be better than us at this and also very helpful ... but all of them? (To my knowledge, there has never been a Scot in charge of Creative Scotland or the National Theatre of Scotland.)

I have grown tired of meeting and watching well-intentioned individuals taking up posts here who believe they are telling us how to do culture. We don't need someone to tell us how to reinvent the wheel - we have a wheel, even if it's a bit shoogly at times and needing repair and investment. It's ours and we do it our way - we just want to do it as well as we can and grow to be the best we can.

This is also a debate about cultural diversity and our cultural institutions and outlets reflecting the UK back to itself - and they don't and haven't for a long time. I truly believe that something like Rab C Nesbitt would never be commissioned today. The risk that Alan Yentob took as then controller of BBC2 was a big one but he believed that the series was a valid contribution to comedy, culture and entertainment and had something to say about poverty and class. It is a real shame that Still Game was never given the opportunity and push of a BBC2 commissioning editor to get it to a UK-wide audience. The huge hit that is Mrs Brown had to start in Scotland before being transferred to the network - I don't believe it would have been commissioned otherwise. These programmes command huge audiences that are predominantly working-class, and that's an audience that is generally ignored and patronised.

This is not about individuals. I don't care where James Blunt, Benedict Cumberbatch or Eddie Redmayne come from or where they were educated (for the record, it was Harrow, Harrow and Eton). I enjoyed The Theory Of Everything and Testament Of Youth (both films starred Redmayne), but I've grown tired of the fact that the angst-ridden stories of the Oxbridge type is deemed to be the only tale in town. And this does advantage the actors who are from that class, who slip with such ease into these roles.

Our stories, other stories from other classes and countries across the UK, are every bit as valid, interesting and vital but they are not being told. As a youngster, I had a notion that Britain was a place full of big cities and rural communities from Devon through Lancashire to Aberdeen, who spoke differently, had their own wonderful and weird traditions and customs but felt it was all part of being culturally British. We were all in it together. The change that has occurred since and I would venture more in the Blair/Brown era due to the increase in the wealth and dominance of the city state of London and the emergence of the truly professional political class helping to create a cultural elite who all know each other, has meant that the UK is viewed through the prism of London and a notion that all truth, culture and media is made in London with a public school accent.

The situation we are now in is dangerous and it's right that we raise our voices to demand better and take the power back to ensure that we all contribute to the art and culture of these islands.

James McAvoy puts it brilliantly: "As soon as you get one tiny pocket of society creating all the arts, or culture starts to become representative not of everybody, but of one tiny part, and that's not fair to begin with, but it's also damaging for society."

This issue will run and run.