DRUMCHAPEL-BORN actor James McAvoy has said he was "delighted" to leave Scotland earlier this year after his fellow cast members were subject to "racial abuse" on a near-daily basis.

The Scottish actor, known for his blockbuster roles in X-Men and Split, said he was “really saddened” after taking his West End show Cyrano de Bergerac to Glasgow’s Theatre Royal in March.

He told GQ: “The cast were amazing, it was brilliant. But I was really saddened, to be honest with you, because most of the women of colour in the cast got racially abused pretty much on a daily basis when we were there.”

The Hollywood star, who starred in the title role of the show, said the abuse was sexually explicit and violent, being directed solely at the female cast members.

He continued: “I was just really saddened. I was absolutely shocked and dismayed and to use a Scottish word, scunnered.

“We were delighted to get to Brooklyn [where the play was to move to next], and leave Glasgow. It was horrible.”

After the abuse, the actor said he wanted to leave the city.

He said: “The narrative that Scottish people and the Scottish media want to hear when one of us has gone away and done alright, they like you to be back at home and go ‘It's rare. It's fantastic. I'm chuffed to be here and there's no crowd like a Scottish crowd’.

“But I was going on stage every night going, I don't want us to be here. I brought this cast here and I don't want to be here.”

A spokesperson for the Theatre Royal said: "Everyone at Theatre Royal was extremely upset by these incidents which happened elsewhere in Glasgow city centre.

"Diversity and inclusion remain a priority for us, and we offered appropriate support to the company at the time."