Bill Nighy thinks men have been “getting away with everything for centuries”.

The 70-year-old actor has hit out at “sexual politics”, suggesting there are forces that are still “trying to halt the civilising process”.

He explained: “Men have been getting away with everything for centuries. It’s completely barmy. And until we deal with sexual politics, the world will not function properly.

“Yet there are always those forces – which are working overtime at the moment – trying to halt the civilising process. Medieval stuff you wouldn’t think would even hang in the air in 2020.”

Bill also hit out at the “myth of women being weaker”, describing it as “propaganda” and “b*******”.

He told the Guardian newspaper: “The myth is that men feel less, but I don’t know; I’ve never been a woman. How do you measure such things?

“I know that I have feelings. And I know the myth of women being weaker is male propaganda. Just more b*******.”

Meanwhile, Bill previously confessed to feeling nervous “all the time”.

The acclaimed actor has enjoyed a successful career on stage and on screen, but he still feels anxious when he’s working.

He shared: “I felt nervous before we started filming, during rehearsals, when we started filming, most of the way through filming, all the time, actually.”

Bill also admitted he can’t bring himself to watch his own performances back.

He said: “I see all the compromises, all the moments of cowardice, the default things I do when I can’t pull something off. It’s upsetting. It’s always so far short of what you had in mind. Because somehow, what you had in mind is never translated into action.

“[Watching it back] would make you learn nothing except that you must give it up and do something else for a living.”