Richard E Grant blasts ‘cruel’ UK university in scathing letter demanding it stops animal testing on rats

The Withnail and I, Doctor Who and Star Wars star penned a letter blasting the university and urging it to stop its “cruel” tests on rats.

Richard E Grant has joined calls to ban a controversial form of animal testing after writing a scathing letter to a UK university demanding an end to the “horrific” practice. The Hollywood star waded into the row over forced swim experiments on rats which has seen universities facing growing outrage from campaigners.

The test involves putting the rodents into inescapable beakers of water and then timing how long they struggle to swim before floating to the top to survive. The Withnail & I, Doctor Who and Star Wars actor has now penned a letter slamming the University of Bristol - urging them to stop the “cruel” tests.

The university is said to carry out the experiment more than any other British university, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). BAFTA-winning actor Grant, 65, who is appearing at the Bristol Hippodrome theatre this week, has now joined PETA in calling for an end to the rodent behavioural test.

He said: “My career has taken me everywhere from Penrith to a galaxy far, far away. And while I’ve experienced some absurd things on my travels, even I couldn’t believe it when I heard that the forced swim test is still used at your university.

“I can only imagine how terrified rats must feel as experimenters put them into inescapable beakers of water, in which they paddle frantically in search of an escape – pawing at the sides of the beaker and diving to the bottom – but to no avail. Once experimenters have finished subjecting the animals to this cruelty, they kill them.”

The test is designed to see how effective antidepressants are but PETA and other animal charities claim the science is flawed. Several universities have agreed to no longer conduct the test and the Government has been urged to ban it altogether.

The Game of Thrones and Downton Abbey star adds in his letter: “The science doesn’t add up. It makes no sense for the university to continue to use an experiment that is both distressing for animals and irrelevant to humans.

Richard E Grant has joined calls to ban a controversial form of animal testing after writing a scathing letter to Bristol University demanding an end to the “horrific” practice.

“I’ll be in Bristol this week – performing at the Hippodrome – and I hope I can tell my fans that the University of Bristol will no longer use the forced swim test.”

Over 15 companies and more than a dozen universities, including King’s College London, have said they don’t intend to use the forced swim test in future. More than 50,000 people – including actors Sir Mark Rylance and Joanna Lumley and Mayor of West England Dan Norris – have urged University of Bristol to follow suit.

A PETA spokesperson added: “The test has also been criticised on welfare grounds and because of its irrelevance to humans. Trying to understand the fundamental human biology underlying stress and anxiety by forcing rats to swim in a beaker of water is doing a disservice to those suffering with mental health disorders.