Richard Gere doesn't want to do any more UK TV after 'MotherFatherSon' as shoots are 'too long'

Persuading Richard Gere to sign up for British TV drama MotherFatherSon was no mean feat, according to the show’s director James Kent.

“It’s not easy getting stars of that calibre,” he told Prima. “And it was well worth the struggle, it did take a long time [to convince him] but he wanted to be sure.”

However, it sounds like Gere, who hasn’t appeared on the small screen since a role in Kojak in 1976, won’t be queuing up for the next job.

“It was six months’ shooting, like doing four indie movies back to back but playing the same character,” he told the Radio Times.

“It’s too long. I don’t think I’ll do it again.

“I don’t really watch much television except the news. I have a very full life and, honestly, TV is not high on my priority list.”

He did have a few mildly complimentary things to say about it, however.

“I thought it was great and would work on so many different levels. It’s a family drama, a mother, father, son, albeit a divorced family but that’s our world, isn’t it?” he added.

“It’s about politics, media, big stuff in our lives. It’s honest and smart.”

The show finds Gere playing Max, a media mogul estranged from his wife, played by Helen McCrory, and in conflict with his son Caden (Billy Howle), who is running the family business while hiding a secret drug addiction.

Also starring Sarah Lancashire, Sinéad Cusack, Paul Ready, Danny Sapani and Ciarán Hinds, it starts on BBC Two on March 9.

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