EastEnders: Michelle Gayle attacks producer's comments on diversity
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Version 0 of 1. Former soap star Michelle Gayle has hit out at the producer of EastEnders for refusing to “tick boxes” by including more ethnic minority characters. Dominic Treadwell-Collins told the Radio Times earlier this week that introducing more ethnic minority characters into the show and defining them by storylines around ethnicity, sexuality or disability, would leave viewers with “a blancmange”. “As soon as someone starts imposing editorial decisions, we fight back, because we know what we’re doing,” he added. “The day I start box-ticking is the day I leave.” Gayle, who played Hattie Tavernier in EastEnders for three years, told the Mirror: “I was pretty taken aback, I wasn’t expecting a programme-maker to say something like that. EastEnders is one of the few contemporary dramas on primetime TV. “When it first started, you felt it was a snapshot of the East End. It’s been on for 30 years, and obviously the East End has changed dramatically.” She added: “It’s really disappointing to hear a programme-maker say ‘reflecting Britain as it is would be a box-ticking exercise’. I would rather he said it was a great or a challenging opportunity.” Gayle cited the example of a producer from her time on EastEnders: “When I was on the show, I had a black female producer for about a year called Barbara Emile and she was getting 19 million [viewers]. She was getting something right. I don’t quite understand why he has that point of view.” Related: EastEnders producer rejects 'box-ticking' on diversity The show’s black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) stars currently include Nitin Ganatra, who plays Masood Ahmed, as well as Rakhee Thakrar and Himesh Patel, who play his children Shabnam and Tamwar; Diane Parish and Tameka Empson, who play Denise and Kim Fox; and Rudolph Walker, who plays Patrick Trueman. Treadwell-Collins’ comments followed claims last year from the then acting chair of the BBC Trust, Diane Coyle, that “there are almost twice as many white people living in [EastEnders’] fictional E20 as in real life E17” as she admitted the corporation needed to do more “to provide an authentic portrayal of life in modern Britain”. Last June, BBC director general Tony Hall unveiled a raft of new measures on diversity, including a new executive development scheme and a £1.2m diversity creative talent fund. It also set a new target of increasing on-air portrayal of BAME people from 10.4% to 15%, with specific targets for London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leicester to reflect the local populations’ ethnic mix. Actor and comedian Lenny Henry has led a campaign to improve representation of BAME talent both on- and off-screen. Last year, he called for legislation on the issue, describing the percentage of BAME people in the creative industries as “appalling”. |