Peake: 'We're force-fed rubbish on TV'

Criminal Justice star Maxine Peake has claimed that television force-feeds rubbish to viewers.

Speaking during an interview with the Radio Times, the actress - Juliet Miller in the BBC drama - also admitted that she is "a bit of a conspiracy theorist".

"Our social structure seems to be collapsing," she said. "Why? The government does nothing about it. I'm a bit of a conspiracy theorist because I think they've got us where they want us, gripped in a climate of fear - swine flu, the economy - and dumbed us down so much we're not rebelling."

She concluded: "We're force-fed so much rubbish on television that we've become comfortably numb."

The second series of Criminal Justice begins Monday, October 5 at 9pm on BBC One.