Should There Be More Diversity On Tv

[emmie]

debate on Matthew Wright show this morning. Period dramas are apparently being blamed for the lack of black and ethnic minorities on our screens.
This was coming from Lenny Henry i believe, should we have more diversity on
our small screen and behind the cameras.

[emmie]

i can't find a more up-to-date link than 2015.

[emmie]

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/23/lenny-henry-bbc-diversity

[gingejbee]

....yes, actually funny comedians (whatever colour they are) would be a good start!

[MallyJ]

If period dramas were to accurately reflect the times in which they were set and the area then there would have to be research into who was living in that area at that time. I suspect that the ethnicity of the population in, for example, the 18th and 19th centuries was less diverse than it is now. Whilst some areas of cities have had changing populations from different ethnic origins that is not true equally across the UK at those times. Having said this dramas and the filming of them today surely should reflect the ethnic mix that is modern day Britain. I would certainly hope so.

[emmie]

so they would..

[Samjenko]

Sir Lenny of Henry was made 'editor for the day' on R4's Toady programme.
Here's his diverse production team; https://i.guim.co.uk/img/static/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/12/31/1420046306004/Lenny-Henry-with-his-team-012.jpg?w=620&;q=20&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&dpr=2&s=c662afdd0387db3ebac53e7ee3701e8b

[emmie]

when you watch tv shows though apart from the soaps very few black and ethnic minorities are represented. We used to see a few shows with mainly a black cast, now i can't think of one.

[emmie]

sam
did you mean 'toady' or should that have been Today.
they are a pretty diverse bunch i must say

[Samjenko]

Pretty black, i'd say.

[Samjenko]

The most beautiful 15 year old girl in 15th century France, BBC style.

http://www.cultbox.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/9130710-high-the-hollow-crown-the-wars-of-the-roses.jpg

[RandyMarsh]

The only things that i watch on normal tv these days are sport, the news and first time run series like walking dead, game of thrones etc.
Everything else is netflix. Iplayer, Now TV etc so i don't notice a lack of diversity.

I probably watch twice as much youtube in a week than tv.

[emmie]

do we need more fronting tv shows, being the leads in dramas for instance, because apart from Idris Elba and David Harewood i can't think of too many ethnic actors.

[emmie]

sam
i take your point. good actress by the way, not sure if she would be right for the role, but hey if a woman can play Hamlet why not a black actress.

[cassa333]

The trouble we will always have is that of period dramas.

As already stated in the 18th and 19th (and earlier) centuries the diversity was much more limited and any non whites were few and far between.

So do you do a proper period drama or do you mash it up to 21st century standards?

There have I suspect always been gays and people that dress as the opposite gender but do that in a time when it was against god and the law and you would hide it for fear of your life. But 21st century mash up would have a couple flaunt their sexuality with hardly a backward glance or comment.

So for me it goes back to what You are trying to depict. Reality of the time or something we recognise as of the time but in reality nothing like it!!!

[Peter Pedant]

// There have I suspect always been gays and people that dress as the opposite gende//

ern yeah Chevalier d'EOn springs to mind
Fransh ambassador to the Empress catherine for twenty years in a dress and then became Ambassador at the Court of St james's as a man I think
Bets were on - as to whether ee was a man or woman
but he was a ver' good fencer....

after death found to be fully man
[ il fut reconnu par un concile de médecins comme de sexe masculin et parfaitement constitué.]

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Beaumont,_chevalier_d%27%C3%89on

fransh wiki - I am sure there is an English version

[Peter Pedant]

biog of chevalier d'eon I read as a teenager

The enigma of the age: The strange story of the Chevalier d'Eon Hardcover – 1 Jan 1966
by Cynthia Cox (Author)