The actor Hannah Waddingham was cheered by onlookers after she reprimanded a photographer who appeared to ask her to “show leg” as she arrived for the Olivier awards on Sunday.
In a video posted on X, the photographer’s comments are inaudible but Waddingham responds: “Oh my God, you’d never say that to a man, my friend.”
She warns that she will move on if they continue in that vein, saying: “Don’t be a dick, otherwise I’ll move off. Don’t say ‘show a little leg’. No.”
Waddingham was arriving to host the annual awards for excellence in theatre at the Royal Albert Hall when the comments were made.
The footage posted on social media shows her posing on stone steps, wearing a lilac beaded one-shoulder maxi dress with a semi-sheer skirt, before gesturing towards the photographer who is thought to have made the remarks. As she walks away, she points and adds: “Have some manners.”
The crowd is heard cheering after the actor’s comments. Waddingham appears to discuss the issue with the photographer as she continues walking towards the building.
She is best known for playing the Richmond FC owner, Rebecca Welton, in Ted Lasso, which won her an Emmy, a Critics’ Choice award and a Screen Actors Guild award.
Waddingham, from south London, also starred in Game of Thrones and Sex Education, and co-hosted last year’s Eurovision song contest in Liverpool. She also hosted the 2023 Oliviers.
Waddingham has also been a stage actor in the West End and on Broadway. She has appeared in a number of shows, including Spamalot, as the Lady of the Lake, and as Desiree Armfeldt in Trevor Nunn’s acclaimed revival of A Little Night Music, roles that earned her two Olivier nominations.
The Oliviers were established in 1976 to celebrate the “world-class status of London theatre”, according to the awards’ website, and are among Britain’s most prestigious stage honours.