Helen Mirren: 'The British are angry'

Helen Mirren has revealed that she does not think much of British society.

The actress said that she believes English television and cinema encourage anger and cruelty.

She told Match: "Where conflicts are made worse on cinema and on television, where people are nasty and cruel on the internet and where, in general terms, everybody seems to me to be very angry. This causes me a lot of pain.

"I prefer the finesse of French humour. English humour is harsher, more scathing, more cruel and more surreal too, as illustrated by Monty Python and the TV series Little Britain, where situations are far-fetched and over the top.

"I smoked Gitanes to appear cool, and I dreamed of being French. I wanted to be an elegant bourgeoisie or an artist just like Juliette Greco."

Mirren added that she fantasised about being like French actress Brigitte Bardot when she was a teenager.

She explained: "From the age of 15, I desperately wanted to be Brigitte Bardot and to go and live in St Tropez. But I was just a small and plump English girl with spots. Then I had a French boyfriend called Jean-Louis with whom I'm still friends."