Gloria Hunniford has slammed 'Killing Eve' creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge for calling her violent character "empowering".
Gloria Hunniford
The 78-year-old television presenter has fumed at the actress and writer for saying that seeing women being violent on the show was "oddly empowering".
She told the Daily Mail newspaper: "When you have seen real violence in the streets like I did in Ireland this is not TV, this is not drama, this is real life. I saw bad things. I once saw a man die before my eyes. It doesn't empower women at all. Violence is violence. I was a news reporter and saw the real thing. This is not showbusiness. This is life. I wouldn't watch sex or violence."
Phoebe had previously said of the show - which stars Jodie Comer as a female assassin and Sandra Oh as a security operative - that it was good to see women being violent on television rather than the other way around.
She shared: "We're being allowed to see women on slabs the whole time and being beaten up, and in some ways that's important to see because it shows the brutality against women. Seeing women being violent, the flipside of that is refreshing and oddly empowering."
Meanwhile, Jodie previously admitted portraying Villanelle has allowed her to show off her "versatility" as an actress.
Speaking about the "overwhelming" reaction to the first series, she said: "What I love about Villanelle is that she is many characters within one, and she has enabled me to hopefully show some versatility that people may not have expected from me. There has been such an overwhelming response to 'Killing Eve' that when I meet people, they are enthusiastic about talking about it and they enjoy it so much. It's been wonderful to have all sorts of conversations. Going to the set is so fulfilling because not every day is the same. There is always something thrown my way to challenge me. So I think I have really been able to grow and learn more about myself."
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