Former EastEnders producer Barbara Emile has called for broadcasters to ring-fence funding and introduce quotas to promote on-screen diversity.
“It’s about changing a mindset,” Emile said. The producer, who worked on the BBC show at the height of its ratings success in the 1990s, said: “It’s about proving there is an audience. If there is ring-fenced money this will take five years.”
She echoed Lenny Henry’s calls for the introduction of quotas as a means of improving the representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) people on TV screens.
Emile, speaking at Make Diversity Pay, a conference jointly hosted by the Royal Television Society and the BBC Tuesday afternoon, said the TV industry must “get real” on the issue.
“If we do not consider diversity in TV then Britain is at a disadvantage,” she said. “Does the market exist for diverse on-screen talent? And does the production talent exist? I think it does.”
Her comments come as current EastEnders producer Dominic Treadwell-Collins sparked controversy last month by refusing to “tick boxes” by including more ethnic minority characters.
Former soap star Michelle Gayle, who starred on the show during Emile’s time as producer, reacted by attacking Treadwell-Collins’ stance on the issue, saying she had been taken aback by the executive’s stance.
Film and TV producer Charlie Hanson, who created No Problem from the Black Theatre Cooperative, the first sitcom featuring a black cast for Channel 4 and later produced Desmonds for the same channel, a show that attracted 5.2 million viewers, said the BBC was “still lagging behind on diversity issues”.
Hanson claimed the public broadcaster “originally created diverse programmes out of embarrassment for being left behind by others”.
Campaign for Broadcasting Equality spokesman Simon Albury repeated Henry’s call to ring-fence the diversity budget at BBC.
Sky Vision managing director Jane Millichip, when asked if she expects Sky’s sales to climb as a result of BAME quotas, said their introduction is only likely to help.
“The increase in incidental diversity has to be a good thing on TV,” Millichip said, adding that while it was helping she couldn’t put a cash value on the impact.
Responding to a query about diversity quotas at Sky, Millichip quipped: “You’re hard-pressed to find a straight white bloke at Sky Vision.”
The joint conference, which was held as part of the BBC’s Reflect and Represent Week, was chaired by Aasmah Mir and also featured former broadcaster and academic Diane Kemp.
