Jessie Buckley has said she was “brutalised” on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s BBC reality series I’d Do Anything.
The Irish actor, 36, said she faced “unfair objectification” when she was a contestant on the 2008 show, which searched for an unknown to play Nancy in a West End production of Oliver.
Buckley, who is an Oscar frontrunner for her role in Hamnet, said she was “bodyshamed” when appearing on the series at 17, and also called out the show for sending her to femininity school, which she described as “messed up”.
“I really hope that a 15, 17, whatever-age woman never has to be brutalised quite like what happened on that show,” the Hamnet star told Vogue in a new interview.
“But I didn’t recognise it fully at the time. I just felt it, which was difficult.”
She continued: “I was depressed and I just wasn’t well. I was growing into my body. I was in a moment of discovery. As women, it’s such unfair objectification. I don’t know, I can only speak for myself, but at that point I was just trying to move into a space for myself.”
The Independent has approached Lloyd Webber and the BBC for comment.
Buckley finished in second place on the series, with Samantha Barks, who starred in the 2012 film version of Les Misérables, finishing in third place. The role ultimately went to Jodie Prenger.
After the show ended, Buckley turned down an offer from theatre producer Cameron Mackintosh – who had supported her throughout the series – to be Prenger’s understudy.
“I walked to his office, rang the bell and said: ‘Is Cameron Mackintosh here? Thank you, but I won’t be taking that job,’” she said.
Instead, Buckley starred in a London revival of Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music, playing Anne Egerman opposite Maureen Lipman and Hannah Waddingham before graduating from Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in 2013.
I’d Do Anything was one of several reality shows searching for new talent to star in West End productions, with others including Any Dream Will Do and Over the Rainbow.
Eighteen years on, Buckley is an Oscar frontrunner for her lead role in Chloé Zhao’s adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s Hamnet. The film explores the relationship between William Shakespeare and his wife, Anne Hathaway, in the aftermath of their 11-year-old son’s death.
After winning the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Actress earlier this week, Buckley praised her co-star Paul Mescal, who grew emotional after her triumph.
“Paul, I bloody love you, man. And I know loads of other women do in this room too, but tough s***,” she joked. “I could drink you like water, working with you every single day. You’re a giant of the heart and thank you so much for making me a little bit more human.”
She was previously nominated for an Oscar in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in Maggie Gyllenhaal’s The Lost Daughter, and has received three Bafta nominations in total, including Leading Actress for her role in musical drama Wild Rose.
Meet the Traitors 2026 contestants, from a former detective to a crime writer
Even reality TV as brilliant as The Traitors can’t escape this troubling cliché
EastEnders actor makes urgent appeal for colleague in critical condition
Inside the Traitors castle: A wedding venue once owned by an opium trader
Stranger Things star shuts down Conformity Gate theory after finale backlash
Chevy Chase sparks backlash after telling documentary director she’s ‘not bright’
