“That’s where all the money’s going. They seem to throw it at light entertainment and take it away from drama,” said Glenister, who plays tough Seventies copper Gene Hunt.

“They signed bloody Graham Norton for three and a half mill again or something,” he adds.

“I mean how frustrating. I was a singer for 20 years before I became an actor and how frustrating for the girls who have been working their knickknacks off in the theatre, going through all the chorus and the callbacks and all that to get some girl off the street getting the chance that they’ve always waited for,” said Andrews.

“These girls have walked in off the street and the standard in the West End is incredibly high,” he added.

“And I’ve watched all the girls, they can all sing a bit, but there’s only really one, maybe two that you would think they’re pretty good. If you go to the West End they’re incredible.”

“I think it’s very contentious. Equity should be onto them and Lloyd Webber should know better. If it was his own show I bet you no way that it would be cast [like this], if he’d written it,” said Glenister.

“So I think he’s being rather two-faced. I think it’s disgraceful. It just cheapens the whole thing. I remember they did it with the soap thing, in Emmerdale. Farcical.”

Glenister blamed the creation of the show on the need to make cheap television and lambasted producers for making everything about the need to save money.

“Our budget hasn’t moved since the first series [of Life On Mars],” he said.

“It’s the only industry I can think of where you get penalised for being successful, I can’t think of another industry that does it.”

“There’s the politics out the window. That’s me never working for the BBC again,” Glenister said, laughing.