20 Movies and TV Shows That Made Actors QUIT Genres

Emma Thompson is nothing short of a British film and TV icon, and has had an incredibly successful career spanning decades and genres aplenty. Having said that, comedy isn't something that might necessarily be associated with her immediately, in spite of some of the early work in her career.

Back in 1983, Thompson starred in Alfresco, a sketch show with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry, two of the biggest British names of the genre. Five years later, she wrote and starred in her own sketch show, Thompson, and as she put it herself, the critics ripped it apart.

Though looking back now Thompson can see how such responses were informed by little more than misogyny, but at the time she couldn't even get out of bed and called time on her sketch show career and moved into more serious roles.

Despite essentially being forced out of the world of comedy by the type of reviews that labelled her as a man-hater, Thompson stands by her decision as a sensible one, doing what she needed to do to continue making a living for herself.