Hugh Grant Says He Almost Played The Pig Sex Prime Minister In Black Mirror

He may have teamed up with Charlie Brooker for Netflix’s hilarious Death to 2020, but Hugh Grant has previously been offered the chance to work with the Black Mirror writer.

Yep, the suave actor, 60, was offered the chance to play fictional British Prime Minster Michael Callow in the very first episode of the dystopian anthology titled The National Anthem.

For those of you who haven’t watched the particularly graphic episode, The National Anthem follows PM Callow who faced an unprecedented crisis when popular Princess Susannah is kidnapped.

In order to release the princess unharmed, the Prime Minister is asked by the kidnapper to have sex with a pig on live television.

The episode, which first aired in 2011, bore an uncanny resemblance to an actual political scandal which took place in 2015, when then-Prime Minister David Cameron was accused of placing a “private part of his anatomy” into a dead pig’s head as an initiation rite at university.

In a new interview with Digital Spy, Hugh said: “I’ve got this feeling I was offered a part in [a Black Mirror episode] ages ago.

“Was there one in which the Prime Minister has to have sex with a pig? I think I was offered a part in that. Maybe I was the Prime Minister. I can’t remember.”

However, Hugh decided to turn down the controversial role.

“I knew I couldn’t do it at the time,” he said. “I think I was busy doing something else. I was making some film. I really can’t remember. It was a long time ago.”

In the end, the role went to Rory Kinnear – who has also starred in the James Bond films as Bill Tanner, as well as TV series Years and Years, Inside No. 9 and Catherine the Great.

But Hugh does have plenty of experience playing a head of state, having been British PM in 2003’s Love Actually.

The Black Mirror series has attracted a galaxy of stars after it moved to Netflix in 2015, with Fleabag’s Andrew Scott, singer Miley Cyrus and Black Panther star Letitia Wright have all featured in the series.

Black Mirror is available to stream on Netflix.