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The Effect of Period Dramas on Black Actors in the UK

Wealth, and the creation of it, is the hallmark of a successful nation. Income, and a sizeable one, is a reliable pointer to a thriving household, whether counted in shekels, goods or in cattle. Opportunities, and access, whether personal or social, are the essential stepping stones to advancement. To be denied opportunity is to be denied the oxygen of life itself which makes the advantage of not only having a golden chance, but access to it, a most powerful combination in the struggle to succeed and grow.

There has been a plethora of period dramas on television, especially the BBC, the national broadcasting station which is accountable to the general public. The fact that the producers of these dramas aim for 'creative authenticity', reflecting the period they depict, a time when few black people were around in the UK, means that every single actor will be white. The consequences of that virtually segregated casting system are enormous. It means that only white actors will qualify for any artistic nominations and accolades, only white actors will get the oxygen of publicity needed to further their career, only white actors will have their CVs expanded with such good parts and only white actors will repeatedly get the money accruing from their involvement which will never be available to black actors simply, and purely, because of their colour. In a vicious cycle, without all those significant roles and the money to match, they cannot compete like their white peers for future jobs, so they are likely to be found wanting as this form of exclusion affects them in other ways.

So the BBC, for which every person of any race, colour or creed has to pay to watch, openly discriminates in whom it pays in turn to act, happily excluding one section of the very community that pays its wages purely on its colour. Period dramas attract a lot of attention from the public. Being the jewels in the crown of the BBC schedules, they make the open discrimination in casting quite remarkable, an unacceptable situation which has been quietly reinforced for years.

Recruiting in own image and likeness
There are also many ongoing documentaries about ordinary people, their lives and achievement and seldom have I seen anything relating to minority communities in order to inform and educate the wider community, as well as promote those sections of our society, just like the majority group. For example, I have never seen a business, family

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