He contradicts himself a bit though, "...a black person or a woman", does he mean a black man or a black woman, or basically any woman would do? No matter how you read it, it doesn't really add up.
Unless whatever he said has been changed by the BBC - it has been known!
The character is a white skinned male though. They may have an excuse to transform "him" into anything they like but to cease the consistency would be just to play to the PC brigade.