Malorie Blackman has revealed she was once asked to make black characters Asian if she wanted to adapt her novel Noughts and Crosses for television.
The author’s landmark book is set in an alternate universe in which black people, known as Crosses, rule over a white underclass known as Noughts.
Despite the book’s premise, Blackman recalled being told that she would need to make her black characters Asian to “reach a bigger audience” if it were to be adapted for the screen.
Speaking at the show’s premiere, Blackman said (via Metro): “One production lunch I went to, they said they were very keen to do it but would I mind if I made the Crosses Asian rather than black.”
She continued: “They said, ‘We just feel we’d reach a bigger audience that way.’
“I thought, ‘Kind of miss the point, much?’ … Hard pass, crazy hard pass.”
Despite first being published in 2001, and followed by four sequels and a stage version, Noughts and Crosses has only just been adapted for television.
Masali Baduza, who stars in the series as a wealthy Cross whose best friend is a Nought, told The Independent that the show has the potential to spark important discussions about power and privilege.
“If you are in a position of power and you have privilege in society, use that to help other people who are struggling or oppressed, because, why wouldn’t you?” she said.
Also starring Jack Rowan and Paterson Joseph, the Noughts and Crosses limited series begins tonight (5 March) at 9pm on BBC1.
