Just a general observation. In Downton the black band leader was looked down upon and treated with disrespect. In The Paradise last Sunday the black photographer was totally accepted with not as much as a raised eyebrow. The Paradise looks like it is set in earlier times than Downton, so is this just selective scripting on the writer's part ?
I did notice that myself but even in more modern times black people can be badly by certain people just because of their colour I don't think it is necessarily to do with the date. Maybe a club singer would have been looked down on by the upper classes no matter what their colour.
Even in the 1950's when mum and dad adopted two black children in Eastbourne, we were stared at and mumbled about and got some nasty remarks (even from my headmistress) One of the black children is Ronnie Archer-Morgan from Antinque Road Road.