My village is slightly bigger than Emmerdale. We have no black people living here, yet our nearest city is very cosmopolitan. I would assume this is the case in and around the Dales.
Because in reality black people rarely live in the Yorkshire dales villages
This.
Statistically black people are much more likely to live in cities than rural areas like the Dales.
That said, there have been black characters in the past and we do have the Sharmas, Rakesh, Kirin, Leyla and Alicia plus Ruby who is mixed race so it is not exclusively white.
Statistically black people are much more likely to live in cities than rural areas like the Dales.
That said, there have been black characters in the past and we do have the Sharmas, Rakesh, Kirin, Leyla and Alicia plus Ruby who is mixed race so it is not exclusively white.
It's right what chloeb says, I've lived in a Yorkshire village 51 years now & we have never once had black residents, though if we had they would have been treated in the same warm friendly manner as any other residents who are happy to fit in with village life here!!
Maybe Dom Andrews told his black friends not to move to the village where his daughter Gemma died.
With such a small village there has been a lot of deaths....with more on the way.
True. Or any kind of non-caucasian ethnicity really.
Leyla and Alicia aren't white?
No i don't think. Perhaps I'm wrong.
ETA - just had a quick look and the actress who plays Leyyla is half Iranian so technically can be considered white or Asian. I think most would say White though so my mistake.
My village is slightly bigger than Emmerdale. We have no black people living here, yet our nearest city is very cosmopolitan. I would assume this is the case in and around the Dales.
I live in a large town and there are none here either. Only occasionally- on holiday.
Our village has no ethnic minorities, the last one being my dad who died in 2007. I am the only mixed race person living here. I would like to say the village was welcoming to my dad, but in truth apart from two families he received a less than warm welcome and despite living in this village over 20 years was barely spoken to apart from the two families I mentioned. It has never been a particularly friendly or community orientated village (unlike Emmerdale) but one thing that annoyed me in the weeks following his death (which caused a commotion in the village due to the air ambulance coming) was the sudden influx of visitors from the village. They just wanted gossip and I found it quite upsetting they could suddenly want to speak when they hadn't previously.
On the plus side at least this village is better than the nearby town we lived in.
My village is slightly bigger than Emmerdale. We have no black people living here, yet our nearest city is very cosmopolitan. I would assume this is the case in and around the Dales.
True across rural Scotland certainly. Using my home - a little north but very similar as an example - Dumfries and Galloway and Scottish Borders, the ethnic makeup is a little bit more white than Yorkshire and ethnic minority can often mean non-UK white like Italian, Polish, Greek, Hungarian (including my grandfather) etc. with British Asians the largest group after that and most often focused on the service sector i.e. the local takeaway, retail or as things like GPs and Dentists. Dumfries (population near 45,000 counting outlying villages) is just about the only place south of Hamilton, Coatbridge, Ayr and north of Carlisle etc. with a statistically appreciable non-UK white population and Jewish people a pretty rare outside Greater Glasgow, Greater Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen. Even assuming 2% of the Scottish population over-all - most of them live in the Central Belt and rural areas have less services and support anyway so they are less likely to have pockets of settlement, so you just don't meet that many - although there has been a gradual increase over my lifetime (born 1982) - I think there were five Muslims in my entire Primary School as a kid (1987-1994) and although the birth-rate amongst British Muslims is higher than the UK white average, dear old Dumfries and Galloway is not an obvious place for an ambitious young British Asian or Black British person to go and that won't change unless there's a big increase in the Asian or Black middle class buying into cheaper housing markets in the countryside and commuting north to Glasgow and Edinburgh or south to Carlisle and Newcastle. The Highlands are much the same and the Islands are struggling to maintain their populations anyway....
I assume the Emmerdale team don't want to stray too far away from the sort of community they know a real Emmerdale would be. They may also not want to be accused of racism by having characters who do fulfill those service roles which would be a way of doing it - ironically providing local employment whilst being economically a bit more consistent. It's tricky but you might get into a Balamory situation where the island was populated as if it was South-East England rather than a Scottish Island, which was, noticeable and then it might loose some of its 'realism'. It's really hard because I completely get why the question is asked....
And that is well-crap SecretLife! What is it with people thinking just because somebody isn't about it allows them to automatically voice every unkind thought that popped into their head? Sometimes its best to go with "if you can't say something nice, don't say it at all". And for the record although I'm a Scot, through my mother (Australian through whom I get a lovely Ozzie passport!), there's enough English/Hungarian/Central European/smidge of Jewish in me to classify myself as 'UK white, predominantly Scottish' rather than Scottish outright for the Census - it's a easier. Round here there's loads of people with English grandparents - awkward right now as you can imagine....
Our village has no ethnic minorities, the last one being my dad who died in 2007. I am the only mixed race person living here. I would like to say the village was welcoming to my dad, but in truth apart from two families he received a less than warm welcome and despite living in this village over 20 years was barely spoken to apart from the two families I mentioned. It has never been a particularly friendly or community orientated village (unlike Emmerdale) but one thing that annoyed me in the weeks following his death (which caused a commotion in the village due to the air ambulance coming) was the sudden influx of visitors from the village. They just wanted gossip and I found it quite upsetting they could suddenly want to speak when they hadn't previously.
On the plus side at least this village is better than the nearby town we lived in.
That's really horrible - your poor Dad and you.
I grew up in a village in southern England, my dad is still there and as far as i know there is only one Asian family (the father is a Doctor) and no Blacks. I went to the village school whose catchment area extended about 10 miles to include all the other villages in the area and in a year of 300 we only had one black girl. I think there were only half a dozen in the whole school which is going to have had approx 1700 pupils.
Admittedly that was in the 80s but i don't think it has changed all that much. Sadly.
My village is slightly bigger than Emmerdale. We have no black people living here, yet our nearest city is very cosmopolitan. I would assume this is the case in and around the Dales.
It is. I live in a village outside of Harrogate and there are no blacks. In fact Emmerdale has had more cast from ethnic minorities than I suggest is representative of villages in the area it is set.
As a native of Yorkshire I can confirm a Dales village is not diverse as most families would have been there a long time. West Yorkshire is very diverse with many black and Asian communities but West Yorkshire is very urban and densely populated and is more like neighbouring Greater Manchester than North Yorkshire. It is not clear whether Emmerdale is supposed to be in West or North Yorkshire- Hotton is based on Otley which is technically in the Leeds council district - however even Esholt in the Bradford district where Emmerdale was originally filmed is not very diverse compared to Bradford itself which is one of the most diverse cities in the UK. It is also very unlikely an Asian family would move to the dales and set up a sweet factory - far more likely in a West Yorkshire town with easy access to M1 and M62.
Not that it takes anything away from the show but I don't imagine that there would be many black people living in West Yorkshire. So it is almost close to reality in terms ethnic minorities as Ramsay street and Summer Bay is. Emmerdale wise there is Dr. Bailey only these days
Not that it takes anything away from the show but I don't imagine that there would be many black people living in West Yorkshire. So it is almost close to reality in terms ethnic minorities as Ramsay street and Summer Bay is. Emmerdale wise there is Dr. Bailey only these days
Shows how familiar you are with West Yorkshire - Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield are the three largest cities/towns in West Yorkshire and all have very large black communities.
Shows how familiar you are with West Yorkshire - Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield are the three largest cities/towns in West Yorkshire and all have very large black communities.
oh really great, but the show is set in a fictional village closer if anything to the Yorkshire Dales. Not Bradford, Leeds or Huddersfield
I think a better question would be why are the black characters they have/had, only background characters, the new doctor, Gemma and Dom were all just supporting characters and not very interesting. It'd be cool to see them introduce a black family like the Lovedays on Hollyoaks.
Comments
answered.
This.
Statistically black people are much more likely to live in cities than rural areas like the Dales.
That said, there have been black characters in the past and we do have the Sharmas, Rakesh, Kirin, Leyla and Alicia plus Ruby who is mixed race so it is not exclusively white.
True. Or any kind of non-caucasian ethnicity really.
Leyla and Alicia aren't white?
With such a small village there has been a lot of deaths....with more on the way.
What a bizarre observation to make- perhaps you are running short of PC brownie points or something.
There doesn't appear to be any black people living on the moon either, not one was seen in the 1969 footage.
No i don't think. Perhaps I'm wrong.
ETA - just had a quick look and the actress who plays Leyyla is half Iranian so technically can be considered white or Asian. I think most would say White though so my mistake.
On the plus side at least this village is better than the nearby town we lived in.
I assume the Emmerdale team don't want to stray too far away from the sort of community they know a real Emmerdale would be. They may also not want to be accused of racism by having characters who do fulfill those service roles which would be a way of doing it - ironically providing local employment whilst being economically a bit more consistent. It's tricky but you might get into a Balamory situation where the island was populated as if it was South-East England rather than a Scottish Island, which was, noticeable and then it might loose some of its 'realism'. It's really hard because I completely get why the question is asked....
And that is well-crap SecretLife! What is it with people thinking just because somebody isn't about it allows them to automatically voice every unkind thought that popped into their head? Sometimes its best to go with "if you can't say something nice, don't say it at all". And for the record although I'm a Scot, through my mother (Australian through whom I get a lovely Ozzie passport!), there's enough English/Hungarian/Central European/smidge of Jewish in me to classify myself as 'UK white, predominantly Scottish' rather than Scottish outright for the Census - it's a easier. Round here there's loads of people with English grandparents - awkward right now as you can imagine....
That's really horrible - your poor Dad and you.
I grew up in a village in southern England, my dad is still there and as far as i know there is only one Asian family (the father is a Doctor) and no Blacks. I went to the village school whose catchment area extended about 10 miles to include all the other villages in the area and in a year of 300 we only had one black girl. I think there were only half a dozen in the whole school which is going to have had approx 1700 pupils.
Admittedly that was in the 80s but i don't think it has changed all that much. Sadly.
It is. I live in a village outside of Harrogate and there are no blacks. In fact Emmerdale has had more cast from ethnic minorities than I suggest is representative of villages in the area it is set.
Shows how familiar you are with West Yorkshire - Leeds, Bradford and Huddersfield are the three largest cities/towns in West Yorkshire and all have very large black communities.