Thread by @WritersofColour

Been watching any TV this Easter holiday? Did you notice The Racial Pecking Order? #MDClassics fb.me/6wzkOIft1

'Name me a leading classical British actor and you can bet your bottom shilling they’ve done “period drama”. A genre that is all but off-limits to actors of colour. Some might well protest that Downton Abbey recently featured a black character. One.

And the news of his casting made headlines. So we can easily see what a major decision and talking point it is to introduce any actor of colour to a production of this kind.

Producers have to make the kind of conscious decision they simply don’t have to when they’re casting Caucasian actors.'

'This type of high-quality /high production values TV drama offers the best opportunities for actors in the shape of the most nuanced, carefully written roles, with the best constructed emotional arcs, and with the most technical demands.

Compared to this if an actor of colour is only able to garner roles playing Chinese Take Away Man, Prostitute, Hoodie With Gun or Indian Waiter then the actor of colour surely won’t have the same showcase opportunities as their Caucasian counterparts...

playing Matthew Crawley or Trixie Franklyn.

Nor, crucially, will the actor of colour have access to the same networks.

'Ethnic roles are often very clichedly “ethnic” and badly written. They are also cast with a completely different criteria by people who are literally picking exotic flowers for their garden.

The number of times I’ve been told “they didn’t think you looked Chinese enough” (I’m of mixed descent) is simply too often to be arbitrary. My agent was once told “we specifically do NOT want any Eurasians”.

'On the other side of the coin, I’ve seen casting breakdowns calling for African-Caribbean actors requesting they not be “too dark”.'

'In addition we’re often expected to be de facto cultural “experts”, to speak a range of languages & have all manner of physical “skills” at our disposal.'

'In fact it’s probably fair to say that our TV and theatre industry is still all too often locked in some kind of ghastly 1970’s parody of inappropriateness.

'Surely it’s clear that in the face of this kind of cultural impasse anyone who posits the line that they “never consider race” is being at best naïve or at worse wilfully disingenuous.'
- @DanielYorkLoh