Nesbitt sets sights on Hollywood

James Nesbitt has said he may turn to Hollywood to get acting work because the recession-hit UK television industry is in financial trouble.

He said he would miss his daughters but "there's so little work happening here, it's not a door that I'd slam shut".

"I could have gone there years ago, but the notion of waiting six months to play a baddie in a bad film just wasn't my idea of career utopia," he said.

The actor told the Radio Times he had employed a US agent.

"I was challenged here, I enjoyed what I was doing. But the British TV industry is in a desperate state - not creatively but financially," he said.

"So I've gone with an American agent and, well, we'll see what happens."

Nesbitt stars in BBC1 Iraq war drama Occupation, which is to be shown next week.

He plays Sergeant Mike Swift, who falls for a courageous Iraqi doctor.