Matt Smith has broken his silence about the pay disparity between him and his co-star in The Crown, Claire Foy, saying they should have been paid equally for their roles in the Netflix drama.

The actor, who played the Duke of Edinburgh opposite Foy’s Queen Elizabeth II, said efforts need to be made to create a level playing field.

Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, he said: “Claire is one of my best friends, and I believe that we should be paid equally and fairly and there should be equality for all.

“I support her completely, and I’m pleased that it was resolved and they made amends for it because that’s what needed to happen.

“Going forward, I think we should all bear in mind that we need to strive to make this better and a more even playing field for everyone involved – but not just in our industry, in all industries.”

Last month at a television conference in Israel, The Crown’s producers, Left Bank Pictures, revealed that Smith earned more than Foy for his work on the show.

After a petition, which called for Netflix and Smith to “make up for this sexist pay gap by donating the difference in their paycheques to the Time’s Up legal defence fund for sexual harassment and abuse victims”, Left Bank issued an apology to both actors.

The statement said: “We want to apologise to both Claire Foy and to Matt Smith, brilliant actors and friends, who have found themselves at the centre of a media storm this week through no fault of their own.

“As the producers of The Crown, we at Left Bank Pictures are responsible for budgets and salaries; the actors are not aware of who gets what, and cannot be held personally responsible for the pay of their colleagues.”

Foy told Entertainment Weekly that she was surprised by the news. “I’m surprised because I’m at the centre of it, and anything that I’m at the centre of like that is very very odd, and feels very very out of [the] ordinary,” Foy said.

“But I’m not [surprised about the interest in the story] in the sense that it was a female-led drama. I’m not surprised that people saw [the story] and went: ‘Oh, that’s a bit odd.’ But I know that Matt feels the same [way] that I do, that it’s odd to find yourself at the centre [of a story] that you didn’t particularly ask for.” 

Foy and Smith played the royal couple for the first two series of the show, but will be replaced by Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies for the third series which is currently in development.