Irons: Movies have a 'problem'

Jeremy Irons has said it's no longer easy for him to make the kind of movies he wants to.

The actor, who has starred in films such as Lolita, The Mission, The Lion King and the Oscar-winning Reversal Of Fortune, has returned to TV acting in recent years, starring in The Borgias.

He said: "Movies are really having a problem. The sort of pictures I make, what I call the £8 million to £30 million, are not made very easily now.

"The £200 million are getting made and the £1.5 million movies are getting made, but the ones in the middle are finding it very hard."

Jeremy, who is also playing King Henry IV in a new BBC Two series, made his name in the 1981 ITV series Brideshead Revisited before moving to film.

"I've been watching the series that are coming out of America and there's such good writing happening. Mad Men, The Wire, Damages, this is really good drama, good writing," he said.