Movie Stars With Amazingly Weird British TV Obsessions

The charms of British TV are not merely the preserve of us normal folk. Oh no. There is a legion of unlikely movie stars who, rather than watching endless edgy art house movies all day to hone their craft, would much rather be watching Homes Under The Hammer.

Meryl Streep – Homes Under The Hammer

Yep, Meryl gets all fizzy when she hears the theme tune to daytime staple ‘Homes Under The Hammer’. And why shouldn’t she? She told Graham Norton: “I’m addicted to everything where they do real estate. I love 'Grand Designs’ and 'Homes Under The Hammer’. Also 'Come Dine With Me’ is fabulous.” Wonder if she stays tuned for 'Bargain Hunt’ and ‘Doctors’?

Robert Pattinson – Geordie Shore

When he’s not doing his movie stuff, R-Patz likes nothing more than to curl up with a bag of Frazzles and watch Gaz Beadle, Holly Hagan and chums get proper mortal.

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“It’s amazing, one of the greatest TV shows I have ever seen in my entire life,” he said, seemingly without any sense of irony. “And it’s not really laughing at people because I don’t really like that kind of reality TV, the people in it, you genuinely really like them, it’s crazy.” To each his own.

Neil Patrick Harris – Celebrity Big Brother UK

Yes, Neil Patrick Harris is most enamoured by watching Rylan Clark and his ilk sit around in their pyjamas all the live-long day. Taking to Twitter, he effused: “I’ve found a new TV obsession: Celebrity Big Brother UK,” he wrote. “Can’t stop watching YouTube videos! I so badly want to partake!” Well, there’s a substantial difference between watching it, and being on it, so be careful what you wish for, NPH.

J.J. Abrams – Downton Abbey

'The Force Awakens’ director J.J. Abrams doesn’t just like Downton Abbey. He loves it, even visiting the set in 2013. Downton director Phil John said: “I asked him if he wanted to come and take a shot and he just looked at me, horrified.” He later added in an interview with The Sun that when Abrams did pitch up on set, he 'was shaking and I couldn’t believe it. I asked if he was OK, and he just said, ‘I’m freaking out, I can’t believe I’m here’. Abrams told Metro: “It’s absolute soap opera done triple-A plus. The characters go places you never expect and the rules of that society allow for wonderful storytelling because there is behaviour that’s forbidden, which barely exists any more.” Get a room, J.J.

Paul Rudd – Antiques Roadshow

Maybe it’s the genteel theme tune. Or maybe it’s Fiona Bruce. Either way, US comedy star Paul Rudd loves him a bit of televised antiques hunting. In an interview with Vulture, he said: “My favourite television show is Antiques Roadshow. Some people may consider that nerdy. I like learning about all of these things that people own; learning about different kinds of furniture and pottery and antiques. The appraisals are super interesting! I like seeing what people bring and I like hearing about what people discover in their attic and what things have been passed down in people’s families. I’m fascinated by historical memorabilia, so I tend to like that show.”

Chris Pratt – TOWIE

In another life, Chris Pratt and his actress wife Anna Faris might have been from Brentwood. He told Graham Norton: “When I was filming Guardians of the Galaxy in the UK we watched a lot of garbage TV and my wife [Anna Faris] went crazy for TOWIE. She fell in love with the show and I started picking up the accent so now the only British one I can do is an Essex one.” Indeed, his accent is really rather reem.

Snoop Dogg – Coronation Street

Does Snoop Dogg love EastEnders? Does he 'eckers, like. No, he loves Corrie. Loves it. He even wants to make a replice Rovers Return in LA. “I have watched Coronation Street for a lot of years and I’m in talks to do a cameo on the show, but until then a little bit of Corrie can come to me. People are mad for themed pubs over here, so I am doing this properly. Nothing will stop me serving Betty’s hotpot in my pub, man. If it didn’t serve hotpot it wouldn’t be a proper Rovers Return. Coronation Street is where it’s at. I’ve sent messages to the cast, they know I’m a fan.” He added: “I love the whole dynamic, the way it is put together, it is my world, it is something I could fall into.”

Will Smith – EastEnders

Yep, Big Willy is a massive fan of the goings on in Albert Square. “I was just chilling in my hotel and 'EastEnders’ was on TV. I didn’t even know what it was, but I literally could not stop watching it. It was like a week’s worth of episodes in one. Before I knew it, all I had done was get room service and waste a whole afternoon watching this show I’d never heard of! It was so real and gritty. American soaps are all about the beautiful people and being cheesy. This soap had everything. There was fighting, people sleeping around - it had it all going on! I’m a bit busy but when things quieten down I’d love to do a cameo. I could make a big entrance in the pub, as you guys call it, and be like, 'Hey, girl let’s take this outside’.”

Jennifer Lawrence – TOWIE

J-Law has heaped praise upon praise on 'The Only Way Is Essex’, deeming it 'ridiculously amazing’. And while that might be taking it a bit far, she adds: “It’s like another world in Essex. I really like the shows you have there. You guys get to say f**k and s**t a lot more than our main TV shows do.” Which is, obviously, a bonus.

Anne Hathaway – Emmerdale

Give Anne Hathaway an afternoon supping in the Woolpack over some swanky eaterie in Los Angeles any day of the week. She first started watching it to help her with her Yorkshire accent for the movie 'One Day’, but only got herself hooked. “Emmerdale’s great. We don’t have programmes like that in America so it was actually quite exotic for me,” she said. Exotic is precisely the wrong word, but the sentiment is there and very much appreciated.

Jon Hamm – The Goodies

Don Draper himself is a massive British comedy fan. Notably, old school shows like 'The Goodies’, featuring, of course, a young Bill Oddie. “I have had this very bizarre fascination with British culture and especially British comedy for a long time. I used to watch the 'The Goodies’, 'Benny Hill’, 'Monty Python’ and 'Blackadder’,” he said. Hamm even courted comedian Matt Berry for a role in his Channel 4 comedy series 'Toast Of London’, appearing in the show earlier this year.

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