Are Black British Actors Being Typecast? BBC Exec. Says ‘Posh Africans’ Don’t Represent Common Folk
Just yesterday I asked one of my British friends, Gabrielle of (dope!) blog I Am the Nu Black, if they were a decade behind us in terms of their penchant for shows and films depicting urban life. Although I’m a fan of the show Top Boy, after watching a trailer for the upcoming film Illegal Activity and seeing several urban films depicting life in London’s council estates (projects) like Bullet Boy, I wondered if the Brits were starting to get a little obsessed with hood films.
So, imagine my surprise this morning as I was getting my daily Shadow & Act fix and read an article about Black British actors not being “ghetto enough” for primetime TV.
Last month, Kate Harwood, BBC’s Controller of Drama Series and Serials, talked to the Telegraph about the lack of diversity on British TV. Although she contends that there are more black actors and presenters (show hosts) than ever, she told the Telegraph ”she has heard criticism that many of the black actors who come to auditions are ‘posh Africans’ and not representative of all social classes.”
Although she said that social class shouldn’t be a factor in casting, and all that matters is if the actors are “good” and “convincing,” the message is clear: many black actors aren’t stereotypically ”black enough” for British TV.
And as Emmanuel Akitobi of Shadow & Act points out, this has led many Black British actors to head abroad in order to make it in the business.
Aktobi writes:
What Harwood shared only confirms what many black actors have been complaining about for years– that despite significant gains for a small few over the years, generally, black actors in the UK have been relegated to portraying “undesirables”, just for a chance at any recognition at all.
It’s almost like the black actor is invisible, unless he’s playing the low-life, or the slacker. Golden Globe-winning actor Idris Elba had to come to America to play a murderous, drug-dealing business-man in HBO’s The Wire, before the BBC invited him to come home and play the titular role of a troubled, near-genius detective in Luther, for which he received the aforementioned award. On the contrary, actor David Harewood’s incredible performance as a prominent and influential senior-member of the CIA, on the Golden Globe-winning Showtime drama Homeland, didn’t even make it into the conversation when BBC Radio 4 program frontrow reviewed the show last month.
Harewood has publicly advised black actors in his homeland to seek work elsewhere, or remain a struggling actor in the UK.
Britain’s growing diversity seems to be at the root of the issue. Although the UK is overwhelmingly white (85%), non-whites make up growing demographic in London (over 30%) and Leicester (over 37%), and interactions between Britain’s white residents and their increasingly colorful neighbors seems to be a source of tension.
Despite major strides, black actors on both sides of the Pond encounter prejudice when attempting work in their chosen field, which further emphasizes the need to not only have more black actors on screen, but black writers, directors and producers behind the scenes.
What do you think? UK Clutchettes, weigh-in on this. Are black Brits typecast on TV?
26 Comments – Add Yours
Latest Articles
Most Popular This Week
Recent Comments
-
Natalie on
#PayYourBillsDiddy? Photographer Takes to Twitter to Get Diddy to Pay Up
Hmm. I know what it's like to have to jump through flaming hoops to get paid. It's humiliating and degrading. I'm not sure what happened...
-
African Mami on
Ballin on a Budget! Stay-cation Bus Etiquette 101
I've taken the bus twice down south. NIGHTMARE! Urrrrrrrgh! I got tales.
-
African Mami on
Scrapbooking – Writing A Letter To The Future
@ Donnie!!!! Awwwww soooooo sorrry for your loss!!!!! e-hugs!!!!! Scrapbooking is too much for me, I'd rather knit and crochet. I get...
-
aedivine on
Honor Student Suing NYPD for Racial Profiling, False Arrest
I'm a 21 year old 5'4 African American women,and if two strange men reversed their car and shouted "get them!" at me and my friend? i don't...
Yes they are typecast because the story of the educated, black professional doesn’t sell in this country and the black actors and actresses have to go to where the work is.
I say you have to create your own shit and hope that someone notices. Fortunately there are some good black writers out there are not obsessed with making ‘black/urban’ films, just quality ones, however those people do not get the same airplay as the ones that play the game.
Um i doubt there is likely to be any advancement in the black actors experience in the UK or the portrayal of ‘other’ types of characters. For goodness sake one episode of Eastenders, that focused primarily on the black characters received 250 complaints. The majority don’t want to see Black people on TV. The Internet is 90% of my entertainment. http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2009/mar/02/100-complaints-over-all-black-eastenders
oh my goody gosh could not agree more with you. i would say 99% of my entertainment is online, i stopped watching eastenders coz my ears bleed when i hear these black charactors say these cringe worthy lines. Its so sad that people just settle for these shows and just accept it or dont see the stupidity in them. i wish there was more diversity on british tv but i feel that its so bad that we just have to settle with what we are given.
Every black character on Eastenders has either been in prison/committed crime. Seriously. SMH
I am confused. Did she say there was not a lot of diversity because the people coming to audition were not ghetto enough? Aren’t they supposed to acting? Why does the actor need to be the character? I should probably go and read the article on Shadow & Act because this makes no sense. Is it that bad? Are white people just pulling nonsense excuses out of their asses now?
Exactly? Why should the person be ghetto? Idris Elba convinced us that he was an American gangster in The Wire and briefly in American Gangster. He didn’t have to grow up tough to be able to do that. He’s just a damned good actor.
Folks come up with the stupidest ways to be racist.
i agree with this post a lot. i love top boy, and bullet but because of the great acting but i would love to see a middle class black family shown on tv, its almost as if they dont exist. i hate british television, if i want to watch something with black people i watch american shows because there is no black charactors on tv let alone positive ones. So many stereotypes played out over and over again, recycled whenever i switch on the tv and there is a black person. i also wish that black people in the uk would wake up and do there own things.
Black British film-maker Noel Clarke has tried to make black comedies and rom-coms but producers aren’t into it. Would rather see people stabbing each other in gangland crimes apparently.
People want to see what they have been conditioned to believe is true. People want to see someone preferably a minority doing worse that they are, it makes them feel good about themself.
very good point, never thought of it that way.
Your friend Gabrielle is my first cousin. Just wanted to give a shoutout to the UK! :D
Make up their bloody minds! Either black people are too vulgar or too crude. Some people can’t adjust to black people acting sensible. People can’t expand their minds and break their mental chains. Sad.
You are damm right Whitney Spears. No one said it better.
“Are black Brits typecast on TV”
Welcome to the club mutha$%@^^&%.
LOL
all this time i thought the UK was advanced in acting, after watching things like Skins and Misfits who display lots of diverse vs america in a mainstream show, and movies like Kidulthood/Adulthood that show the lower class/urban as all races instead of one race or even shows like Love/Hate where urban life is just based on class not on race , i thought they were ahead vs america, guess i was wrong?
also i find in american shows, that if the black character isn’t playing a stereotype or is a likeable in the series white peopel hate that black character for no reason and always wants that person to die off (google :black female fandom hate)
We need our own networks. Look at Awkward Black Girl.
‘Posh Africans’ …. never heard it put that way before. How interesting. Why isn’t there a term for the Asian equivalent, it is as if no Asians live in deprived conditions.
In my experience, British media and society have a problem with intelligent and competent Black people and are more comfortable with the negative stereotypes. Hence Black professionals are portrayed as none-existant in British society, consequently our children are encouraged to unachieve in schools.
As one of the aforementioned ‘Posh Africans’ (love the title by the way) I will continue to refuse to dumb down and accept ghettorisation (is that even a word?) and keep bucking the stereotype. The more Black Britons understand the mindset of British society and work to succeed inspite of it – like Idris, Harewood, Okonedo, Tinie Tempah, Craig David, Melanie B, etc the more the culture will have to reluctantly change; teaching their children to stay in school, go to university, start their own businesses, or leave the country if necessary to suceed.
Yes, Damn right. I’m 18 and from a young age i always realised that there wasn’t may people of colour on TV, and if they were i will get excited but it was the same thing: they were the bad guy or the angry,loud mouth black woman and they always died first. now that I’m older i can say its actually getting worse.
just the other night i stumbled across a film called ‘cherry tree lane’ this film was simply disturbing and unnecessary as it showed sadly a scenario of;
a married white couple who were attacked, beaten, tied up and raped in their own home by two black youths and and one white one. who were anxiously waiting for the couples son who apparently snitched and got one of the black youths cousins in prison, to get home. the filmed ended with the husband eventually escaping and untying his wife (who had been beaten and raped by one of the BLACK youths) and attack the youths and killing the worse one (rapist) as they were also attacking his son (who looked practically dead as he was axed and knifed down till he was pale and covered in his own blood) and that was the abrupt ending.
even though i was engrossed in this film but as it it ended i was deeply disturbed and felt insulted as this film had no meaning and felt it was just another british film to mock the life of ‘urban youth culture’ which in my opinion is at its worse. unfortunately this this film had some truth but what was unsatisfactory was the fact the film having solution which left the film as unnecessary.
in England we don’t have many BLACK BRITISH role models because what we get in the news and just plain regular TV is negative reinforcement of people of colour. the role models that majority of youths do have are singers and rappers and actors which is fine but not good enough.
yes we are type-casted in the same roles as if its good. the shows and the news we have that contain black people just show the negative things that happen in england as if we don’t see this everyday. there is never a solution and if there is it will NEVER be shown or recognised. i can go on because there are so many problems that need sorting.
Yes, Damn right. I’m 18 and from a young age i always realised that there wasn’t many people of colour on TV, and if there were i will get excited but it was the same thing: they were the bad guy or the angry,loud mouth black woman and they always died first. now that I’m older i can say its actually getting worse.
just the other night i stumbled across a film called ‘cherry tree lane’ this film was simply disturbing and unnecessary as it showed a unfortunate scenario of;
a married white couple who were attacked, beaten, tied up and raped in their own home by two black youths and and one white one. who were anxiously waiting for the couples son who apparently snitched and got one of the black youths cousins in prison, to get home. the filmed ended with the husband eventually escaping and untying his wife (who had been beaten and raped by one of the BLACK youths) and attack the youths and killing the worse one (rapist) as they were also attacking his son (who looked practically dead as he was axed and knifed down till he was pale and covered in his own blood) and that was the abrupt ending.
even though i was engrossed in this film but as it it ended i was deeply disturbed and felt insulted as this film had no meaning and felt it was just another british film to mock the life of ‘urban youth culture’ which in my opinion is at its worse. unfortunately this this film had some truth but what was unsatisfactory was the fact the film having NO solution which left the film as unnecessary.
in England we don’t have many BLACK BRITISH role models because what we get in the news and just plain regular TV is negative reinforcement of people of colour. the role models that majority of youths do have are singers and rappers and actors which is fine but not good enough.
yes we are type-casted in the same roles as if its good. the shows and the news we have that contain black people just show the negative things that happen in england as if we don’t see this everyday. there is never a solution and if there is it will NEVER be shown or recognised. i can go on because there are so many problems that need sorting.
not suprising but the Good Ol US of A wont treat them any better, Look at Elba Great great actor and the roles he got since he came to the america. A drug dealer in the wire, beyonce husband in a horrible movie, a Tyler Perry movie, a 2min role as a Black god in Thor and S^%ty role in Ghost Rider smh
lol. this is hilarious.
whenever the `uppity negroes’ get too ‘uppity’ those whose approval you seek will switch the game up just to mess with you, shifting their attention to the people you think yourself better than.
simply beautiful.
gryph, I couldn’t have said it better myself-That is the post of the year.
This article made me this of “The Black acting School” in the movie Hollywood Shuffle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKX4LktBI5o&feature=youtube_gdata_player If you’re in the business…do side projects you want to see and promote it online?
..made me think… (correction)
I known i am preaching to the choir, however If we do not support our own films and shows the world will not take us seriously. Buy directly from the black directors and producers stop watching their shows go on the net, alot of black folks are working on film and net projects. if half of us did that for a year the industry would change we are over 13 percent of the population that is a 13 percent pay cut to any industry that marginalizes us. in Nigeria poor film makers are making films and people are watching it. Spike Lee made his career on films with black central characters so did Tyler Perry. we in the western world continue to seek approval from people who do not respect us. Stop supporting hollywood and they will start respecting us.