BBC 'decaying art' by trying to compete with 'silly old tarts in costume', says Steven Berkoff Why should they compete? ITV does that stinking, sodding Coronation Street until you get brained out. Then the BBC comes out with that stinky, slobbing, clichéd, mindless moronic EastEnders. The interview, part Johnnie Walker's Guest Night, saw him attack popular BBC series Luther and describe ITV's Downton Abbey, which attracts up to nine million viewers, as "a lot of silly old tarts in costume." "It says nothing to us," added Berkoff. In spite of just having come off stage from his role in An Actor's Lament, Berkoff talked practically non-stop during the stage tête-à-tête, in which he said BBC bosses were paid too much. But his criticism was not reserved for the corporation as he claimed that in the last 30 years the theatre has not produced a single actor of worth and there is more talent in street performing. He accused some Hollywood stars of not wanting to tread the boards for fear of drying up on stage, including Johnny Depp, who appeared alongside him in 2010 film The Tourist. Berkoff also reserved criticism for the "cringing banality" of Twitter, claiming that Stephen Fry is a fan "because this man loves attention. He has a million, million and half dopes listening to the utterly crawling banality of this man's mind.