A BBC radio presenter has been left red-faced after Damian Lewis caught her insulting his music.
The British actor, 55, is best known for starring in TV shows including Band of Brothers, Homeland, Billions and Wolf Hall, but in recent years has also pursued long-held ambitions to be a musician.
In 2023 he released the album Mission Creep with jazz artist Giacomo Smith, with his second album also set to be released soon.
This week Damian was interviewed on BBC Radio 2 about his upcoming release – titled Sweet Chaos – when literal chaos ensued in the studio.
Appearing on Romesh Ranganathan’s show on Saturday morning to promote the rock album, things took an incredibly awkward turn when traffic presenter, Sally Traffic, whose real name is Sally Boazman, took aim at his song while it was being broadcast.
‘What is this dirge?’ she asked, with Damian quickly quipping: ‘This is my record.’
The studio then erupted into laughter, with Romesh then drawing Sally on her huge blunder.
‘Speaking about Sweet Chaos, let’s talk about what just happened,’ Romesh said while struggling to stop cackling.
Although Sally begged him not to ‘talk about’ what had unfolded, he didn’t miss his chance and recalled: ‘So you just walked into the room, said hello to Damian, and then what happened Sally?’
Forced to share with listeners her gaffe, Sally then shared: ‘You were playing something and I was listening and I said, “what is this dirge”.’
Romesh and Damian could then be heard breaking out into fits of laughter, with the actor and musician then poking fun at her by declaring: ‘I put a lot of time and hard work into this, Sally. Into this dirge, into my rock ballads.’
For those unaware what exactly Sally’s dig meant – a dirge is a slow, mournful song or poem expressing grief, typically composed for a funeral or as a memorial to the dead.
Trying to backtrack on her comment, Sally then attempted to compliment Damian’s song.
‘I listened to it more closely and I think it was very, very good. You’ve got so much talent; you can do so many things. You are a real polymath,’ she told him.
During the interview, Damian spoke about pursuing music, explaining that he only started taking his music ‘a bit more seriously’ in recent years.
‘The truth is, you do just respond in the moment to what’s in front of you and if it excites you, you go and do it,’ he said about chasing the creative pursuit.
A few days ago, Damian announced his second album, which will be released on June 5.
‘The first album was quiet and tender,’ he said. ‘This new album is a bit angrier in places…you don’t know these things until you listen back: the extent to which your state of mind pervades the thing.’
The album also features a duet with his partner Alison Mosshart – lead singer of The Kills.
Although a full tour is yet to be announced, he will preview the album through a series of intimate in-store performances across the UK in June. They are set to be held in Leeds, Liverpool, Marlborough, London and Kingston.
In an interview with Metro when his first album was released three years ago, Damian was asked whether people were surprised when they heard he had been working on music.
‘Er, yes… is the short answer. My close friends and people I’ve grown up with know that I play the guitar and sing,’ he said.
‘I have a history of busking in London and I used to go round Europe on my motorbike with my tent and play the market squares of the south of France and Spain, but I’ve been a professional actor and very focused on that for many years and I think it will be a big leap in people’s imaginations.’
He also detailed had he’d attempted to write songs when he was younger. However, he said they were ‘frankly appalling and none of them have seen the light of day. Maybe that was a confidence thing, or maybe I was right and they were just rubbish.
The performer was also asked how daughter Manon, 19, and son Gulliver, 17, who he welcomed with his late wife Helen McCrory, felt about him taking up music.
‘The first thing to say when you’re a performer is they much prefer you just being dad. They don’t particularly want to watch me on TV and there was quite a lot of teasing when I first said I was going to start writing songs and make an album and be in a band,’ he said.
‘But now they can see that I’m taking it seriously they’ve been very supportive. Scepticism and outright mockery has turned to something a little more sweetly supportive.’
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