Rod Liddle Rod Liddle

So now we know – the BBC is more scared of offending Muslims than gay people

I had good reasons for turning down BBC3's Free Speech. But now I really wish I hadn't

[Getty Images]

Are there enough black and minority ethnic people on our television screens? The comedian Lenny Henry thinks not and has proposed targets to ensure better representation. Lenny means stuff like Midsomer Murders, I think, which famously avoided using people of colour for a very long time in its absurd but strangely comforting dramas. I think this was to cater for people like me who enjoy watching affluent white people bludgeon each other with candlesticks in the library. In fairness, even Midsomer Murders once had some gypsies play a pivotal role in one episode — they lived in a gaily painted horse-drawn caravan, and were scrupulously tidy and probably filed their income tax returns ahead of schedule.

But in general, Lenny has a point, I suppose. If black people are poorly represented on TV it is because the industry is controlled by middle-aged white public schoolboys in the main. It is less representation on screen that is the problem than representation behind the scenes. Older readers may be inclined to suggest that back in the day sitcoms such as Love Thy Neighbour and It Ain’t Half Hot Mum both portrayed ‘BME’ people in a sort of positive, if comical, role — but I don’t think Lenny would agree with you if you ventured this as a serious refutation of his argument.

Indeed, one of the co-writers of It Ain’t Half Hot Mum has compared Britain to ‘Stalin’s Russia’ because the BBC will not show repeats of the comedy due to ‘political correctness’. Jimmy Perry, who is now 90 years old, wrote the show with the late David Croft, and both men will be revered for all time as a consequence of their earlier hit, Dad’s Army. But not, surely, for IAHHM, which was a woeful agglomeration of poof jokes and featured the very white actor Michael Bates with Bisto on his face pretending to be a witless and elderly Indian.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in