The producer of BBC1’s EastEnders has rejected the idea of diversity targets on the show, adding that he has no intention of including ethnic minority characters just for their own sake.
Dominic Treadwell-Collins told the Radio Times 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.”
He said that he wanted to “break up the formula” of the show and had done this partly by introducing the working class Carter family.
Treadwell-Collins also defended the show’s portrayal of female characters against criticism that they were either depicted as drag queens or dominatrixes. He said he had taken much from his own experience: “My mother is an aspirational working-class woman. I bought her pink high heels for Christmas and she stroked them like they were a cat. She also has bird wallpaper. Things have to be heightened on the show. The clothes and the decor are an extension of the characters.”
The producer has brought in stars such as Danny Dyer and helmed dramatic plotlines such as Lucy Beale’s murder, which have helped fuel higher ratings. It drew its biggest audience in two years on New Year’s Day, with 8.53 million watching Ronnie Mitchell get married, go into a coma after a car crash, and then come back to life.
Last month, the show landed its first best serial drama win in four years at the National Television Awards.
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 follow 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”.
After Hall’s announcement of the diversity plan, Henry said: “I think it’s a really positive small step forward, and it sounds like a cliche, but a journey of a thousand miles starts with a small step.” However, he restated his belief that a quota for spending on productions by BAME talent was the best way forward.
Last August, Sky announced that it had made a commitment to 20% BAME representation in all new non-returning programmes, 20% BAME writers on all team-written shows and at least one senior role to be filled by someone from a BAME background by the end of 2015.
It was followed last month by Channel 4, which announced a “360-degrees diversity charter”, which included targets for employing people with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) staff. It said 20% of its staff would be BAME by 2020 – up from 15% today. Other targets included raising the proportion of its staff with disabilitiesfrom 1.9% to 6%, and LGBT staff from 2.4% to 6%.
The star of the new Martin Luther King movie Selma, David Oyelowo, spoke out last week about black actors being offered “insulting roles”. His comments followed a row over fellow actor Benedict Cumberbatch using the word “coloured” in a US TV discussion about opportunities for black British actors.
