{"id":397198,"date":"2026-01-29T17:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T17:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/397198\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T17:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T17:05:09","slug":"bbc-must-avoid-clunky-color-blind-casting-in-shows-like-doctor-who","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/397198\/","title":{"rendered":"BBC Must Avoid “Clunky” Color-Blind Casting In Shows like ‘Doctor Who’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe BBC<\/a> has been urged to rethink color-blind casting \u201ctokenism\u201d and \u201cpreachy\u201d storylines about the UK\u2019s colonial history in scripted series, according to a major study commissioned by the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\n\tConducted by former BAFTA chair Anne Morrison and ex-Ofcom executive Chris Banatvala, the thematic review of \u201cportrayal and representation\u201d<\/a> across BBC output found that \u201cclunky\u201d depictions of race can cause more harm than good.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe 80-page report revealed audience complaints about Doctor Who<\/a> casting Nathaniel Curtis as Sir Isaac Newton in the 60th anniversary special \u201cWild Blue Yonder,\u201d as well as the 2023 Agatha Christie<\/a> series Murder Is Easy<\/a>, which featured an allegory on colonialism.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe review noted that color-blind casting was a matter of controversy for commentators and some viewers. Urging commissioners to \u201cconsider their choices carefully,\u201d the report said that good intentions to increase diverisity can lead to inauthentic outcomes \u2014 outcomes that can sometimes be damaging to the communities they are attempting to serve. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIn depicting an anachronistic historical world in which people of colour are able to rise to the top of society as scientists, artists, courtiers and Lords of the Realm, there may be the unintended consequence of erasing the past exclusion and oppression of ethnic minorities and breeding complacency about their former opportunities,\u201d the review said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat needs to be avoided is ethnic diversity which looks forced and tick box, and we found our interviewees of colour as emphatic on this point as those who were white.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe report said that the BBC\u2019s efforts to measure representation should be done at a genre level, rather than on a show-by-show basis. It said current measurements can \u201clead to a sense that there needs to be a smattering of diversity in every programme which can lead to inauthentic portrayal.\u201d It added: \u201cIn some cases, this can look clunky, particularly in scripted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tNathaniel Curtis in \u2018Doctor Who\u2019<\/p>\n

\n\tAuthors Morrison and Banatvala also warned against \u201cclunky\u201d attempts to boost diversity in storytelling, pointing to the Christie adaptation Murder Is Easy, starring David Jonsson<\/a>. At the time the series aired, director Meenu Gaur said that storytelling from West African Yoruba culture had informed sequences in the drama, saying it was a \u201cgreat allegorical story about colonialism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe thematic review said: \u201cAudiences are particularly unforgiving of this if it challenges their expectations of what they have switched on to see. If there\u2019s an Agatha Christie murder mystery over the Christmas period, they won\u2019t expect to be taken into anti-colonial struggles, alongside the country-house murder. Unless it\u2019s very skilfully done, there is a danger it will feel overly didactic and preachy, as if the viewer is being lectured or a point is being made heavy-handedly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe review was informed by a survey of 4,518 UK adults, interviews with 100 BBC employees and observers, and an analysis of BBC content over a year-long period to the end of March 2024. It said that authenticity was critical to content resonating with audiences, with successful BBC series cited in the research including Michaela Coel\u2019s I May Destroy You and Man Like Mobeen, created by Guz Khan.<\/p>\n

\n\tYonder Consulting, which undertook audience research, said: \u201cIn terms of what made for \u2018poor\u2019 representation across the media landscape, participants across the breadth of the qualitative sample highlighted \u2018tokenistic\u2019 representation of minority groups or perceived \u2018quotafilling\u2019, in which attempts to represent felt incongruous, overdone or unnecessary.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tYonder said that when on-screen diversity missed the mark, it could \u201cdrive people away\u201d from the BBC. \u201cRepresentation alone was not enough \u2013 people also expected deep and nuanced portrayal,\u201d it added. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe BBC welcomed the findings and said it planned to \u201csystematically\u201d review upcoming content plans to \u201censure underrepresented audience groups are reflected authentically.\u201d The BBC added that it would update its \u201cmeasurement framework\u201d in the coming months, potentially changing the way it monitors representation across shows.<\/p>\n

\n\tKate Phillips, the BBC\u2019s chief content officer, said: \u201cAs this detailed and thoughtful review notes, much has been achieved since we pledged to move more BBC production and commissioning across the UK, but what is also clear is there is still more to do \u2013 both here and across the industry. We accept that challenge and we are committed to going further to meaningfully reflect the lives of the audiences we serve.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBBC chair Samir Shah added: \u201cIt is vital the BBC authentically reflects the lives of all the communities, classes, and cultures across the UK. Decision-making must happen closer to audiences if we want to ensure that everyone feels represented and that the BBC remains an engine for growth within the creative industries.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The BBC has been urged to rethink color-blind casting \u201ctokenism\u201d and \u201cpreachy\u201d storylines about the UK\u2019s colonial history…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[20068,243,48259,835,96,59,148935,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-397198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-agatha-christie","tag-bbc","tag-david-jonsson","tag-doctor-who","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-murder-is-easy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}