Politically Correct Casting On Bbc?

[hc4361]

We had the furore over Midsommer Murders being an 'all white' cast and since then have seen ladies in saris chatting on the village green, an Asian GP, I think I saw a black postman in one episode and there was definitely a Chinese character.
It has brought a whole new fun aspect to the series - spot the token ethnic.

Now the Beeb seems to have turned its attentions to the disabled, with Liz Carr in Silent Witness and an actress whose name I can't find playing the daughter of Nicholas Lyndhurst's character in New Tricks.

I particularly like Liz Carr - she is a great, feisty comedian and her character in SW is capable, intelligent and likeable.

But I can't help the uneasy feeling that the producers are casting in order to prevent an outcry about the lack of disabled people in dramas.

What do you think?

[Mamyalynne]

So they are damned if they don't and damned if they do - tough call really. I think the new character in New Tricks will develop into far more than a token character.

[woofgang]

no I don't think so in the case of New Tricks. Its one of the quirks of the program that all of the team are in some way vulnerable and if you are going to cast an actor for the part of someone with quite a severe disability, why not cast someone who is disabled?

[Mamyalynne]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storme_Toolis

[hc4361]

You have a good point there about the vulnerability of the team members, Woofgang, and gawd, far rather have a disabled actor playing the part than an able bodied actor pretending to be disabled.

I think she'll be a good character, too, Mamya.

[hc4361]

And thanks for the link, at least I can now refer to Storme by her name.

[DJHawkes]

I watched new tricks on catch up after the comments on here last night about nicholas lyndhurst and actually found it quite good. I think the character they have brought in with him, his daughter, will be used as his back up in future cases, she is being portrayed as having an intuition about people, quite a clever plot device because it can fill gaps and leap tall buildings, not literally but you know what i mean.

[Octavius]

I must say, I did think something similar when I saw all the contestants for the Great British Bake Off - the race/gender/sexual orientation/age splt is virtually identical with last year.

[jno]

same number of token whites as before, Octavius? Oh well, I suppose the makeup of the population at large hasn't changed much.

[hc4361]

Yes, dot, and I really do think the whole show is becoming a bit more gritty and believable compared to the farcical romps of the early series. It's developing and I hope it continues to do so with all the major cast changes.

I don't watch the BBO, Octavius, but I do notice that sort of thing in shows.

[Svejk]

Danny Boyle had black shephards in 16? Century Britain & a black industrialiist in 18?century Britain. Strange days.

[Svejk]

Danny Boyle had black shephards in 16? Century Britain & a black industrialiist in 18?century Britain. Strange days.

[Octavius]

No jno, they just wheeled out last years contestants and gave them different names.

hc, I really enjoyed NT last night especially with the introduction of Lyndhurst and his 'daughter'. I look forward to their character development. It needed to move on from Bolam/Armstrong else it would just be same old same old.

[johnny37]

I hope I am not prejuduced but the BBC obviously has a policy of employing minorities. hc4361 is right. It makes you play spot the token. Difficult to strike a balance but you only have to look at the regional/racial/sexual/orientation mix of presenter on the news. There even seems to be a rule that one of them has to be pregnant (JOKE!). All are very good at their job. The female presenters are mostly young and gorgeous. If they can tick the ethnic box even better. The young lady in New Tricks is doing a good job but this is tne case where it was necessary to show Nick Lyndhursts part to have a caring side. Now if she could be pregnant and Welsh and asian as well...... (that was a JOKE by the way).

[hc4361]

You forgot the Jewish bit, Johnny :D

[Octavius]

Do you not remember the hoo ha when Cerrie Burnell was selected as a presenter on CBeebies?

[hc4361]

Nope, never heard of her, nor watched CBeebies.

[joko]

i think many writers are now just hyper aware of the issue now, and the fact that there are all sorts of people in the world and they have become more open to including them in their stories - not just as a token - but because they can offer up a whole host of new avenues of storytelling.

i dont think its the writers add the tokens either, because they are there for the story, and every character they create has a purpose and is rounded and every choice for them has some reason - but the studio execs will do that, they will send the scripts back with their notes etc and ask for some of the characters to be 'diversified' - and as long as it does not affect the story, most will be happy to do it.

[DJHawkes]

is that the girl with a missing forearm? She's great, my grandchildren love her and she seems a natural performer

[joko]

why does it give you an uneasy feeling?

surely doing the right thing - regardless of the reason is still the right thing?

the only way to stamp out prejudice is to make it so familiar that people dont bat an eyelid and barely notice.

prejudice is learned behaviour - children don't have it until they are taught it.

i remember there was a outcry from parents only fairly recently because a presenter on a childrens tv show only had one arm - parents complained in horror that their little darlings had to look at something that 'wasnt normal' ...
i doubt the kids themselves expressed more that curiosity about where her hand was really, but they now know its 'something bad', because mummy went crazy and wouldn't let them watch ...
great example and it truly stuns me that people in this age even think like that.

[Mamyalynne]

Yes Dot, it is and my Grandchildren love her too.


I don't see any of this as tokenism at all - I grew up with friends who had various disabilities and we accepted that as part of the norm, as our little ones do now.

It is a reflection of life as it is , a mixture.