Keira Knightley 'hounded' for TV license fee despite not owning a television set

Keira revealed that she is one of the many young people who have used iPlayer to watch BBC shows for free.

15:20 17 March 2014

Pirates of the Caribbean actress Keira Knightley has revealed that she has been hounded for not paying the TV license fee.

However, she had a good reason – she did not have a television set due to her hectic schedule.

BBC director general Tony Hall recently announced that he will crack down on recouping TV licence fee and extending the contract to cover the iPlayer.

She told the Sunday Telegraph’s Stella magazine: ‘Football is basically the reason I got a television. I didn’t have one before, because I didn’t know where I was going to be, so there was no point.

‘And I got hounded by the TV licence people. I’m like, “I don’t have a f****** TV licence because I don’t have a TV! Please come in and see that I don’t have one!”

‘But now I have one because it was getting ridiculous watching football on the laptop.’

Atonement star Keira revealed that her favourite pundit is former England player Garry Neville, who regularly appears on Sky Sports.

She said: ‘He is just f****** amazing. Absolutely f****** amazing. His commentary...Well, it’s just amazing. He’s amazing.

‘They’ve added loads of other [pundits] alongside him now, but I preferred it when it was pure Gary Neville.’

Miss Knightley added she is also a fan of cookery show MasterChef, saying: ‘It makes me cry. Oh my God, it’s just so f****** emotional. It means so much to them. I get to the end and I weep. I just f****** love it.’