Tom Hardy offers to pay crew’s wages on new series after company goes bust

He stepped up after nearly 50 staff were left without pay.

The Venom star was on the set of Guy Ritchie's new series, Fixer, where approximately 50 freelance set builders faced a Christmas without wages when construction company, Helix 3D, went into liquidation.

According to The Times, Hardy's offer to cover the downtrodden worker's £250,000 in owed wages was rejected by studio bosses.

Instead, Paramount stepped in to pay those left out of pocket.

Earlier this month, leaked Whatsapp messages to workers from Helix 3D chief executive, Brian Dowling, revealed that he was unlikely to pay staff this side of Christmas.

In a letter seen by The Times, organising official for the broadcasting union Bectu, Chris Hudson, spoke out on the matter and the treatment of freelancers ahead of the festive season.

He said: "Our members deserve to be treated with dignity and respect and compensated on time for their work.

"It is wholly unacceptable that they are facing significant financial precarity, particularly ahead of Christmas. 

"This close to Christmas, our members are rightly very distressed, with many fearing they will be unable to cover necessities."

He added that the “unavoidable” lack of liquidity, blamed by the firm on issues linked to the sale of its offices, was not an acceptable reason to now pay the wages of its workers.

“What does seem to have been avoidable was the lack of foresight that this situation could occur, given the serious financial trouble Helix was in,” he added.

“What was also avoidable is the lack of information and transparency granted to our members throughout their employment as to Helix’s current state of affairs.”

Ritchie's new series is a gangster drama in which Hardy plays Harry da Souza - a 'fixer' caught in the middle of a battle between two powerful London familes.

The series also stars Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren.