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Midsommer Murders colourful casting |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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Midsommer Murders colourful casting
They seem to be doing it wrong.
They got into trouble for not using non white actors and have responded by adding some but in a very ham fisted way. Whilst Kam seems perfectly natural, and reasonable, and indeed, the non white protagonist that is now placed in each episode seems similarly reasonable on a per-episode basis, the succession of episodes, having exactly one* non staff actor who is not white makes it look like the worst kind of tokenism. One of the original complaints was that they didn't have any black families in any of these villages, and it seems as if they still haven't had the guts to do that. Just add a random non-white to keep the complaints at bay. * There may have been the odd episode with more - as I said, the actors don't stand out as improbable in any single episode, it's just the repetition that smacks of tokenism. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: North-West England
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Quote:
They seem to be doing it wrong.
They got into trouble for not using non white actors and have responded by adding some but in a very ham fisted way. Whilst Kam seems perfectly natural, and reasonable, and indeed, the non white protagonist that is now placed in each episode seems similarly reasonable on a per-episode basis, the succession of episodes, having exactly one* non staff actor who is not white makes it look like the worst kind of tokenism. One of the original complaints was that they didn't have any black families in any of these villages, and it seems as if they still haven't had the guts to do that. Just add a random non-white to keep the complaints at bay. * There may have been the odd episode with more - as I said, the actors don't stand out as improbable in any single episode, it's just the repetition that smacks of tokenism. What are the odds of there being one white, one black and one Asian presenter collectively fronting a programme, being the best available talent? I've no opinion either way. I just find it amusing when it happens. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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I appreciate of course that MM is fiction but it's probably true that in the area where it's filmed, around the Chilterns, there are few if any black families. That does not excuse the absence of black characters just as there were none for years in Coronation Street when there were plenty in reality in Salford which inspired the original location. But as we all know television is not the real world....
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#4 |
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Quote:
I appreciate of course that MM is fiction but it's probably true that in the area where it's filmed, around the Chilterns, there are few if any black families. That does not excuse the absence of black characters just as there were none for years in Coronation Street when there were plenty in reality in Salford which inspired the original location. But as we all know television is not the real world....
A televised play, Hot Summer Night, had the first interracial kiss on TV anywhere in the world, a full 9 years before Star Trek did it. There's many things you can call drama, but racist isn't one of them. I do think Midsomer Murders really needs to step up its game though - it's shocking that in 2016 almost every character in it is white. |
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#5 |
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Join Date: Jun 2014
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I do think Midsomer Murders really needs to step up its game though - it's shocking that in 2016 almost every character in it is white.
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#6 |
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Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Honiton, Devon
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Quote:
One of the original complaints was that they didn't have any black families in any of these villages, and it seems as if they still haven't had the guts to do that. Just add a random non-white to keep the complaints at bay. * There may have been the odd episode with more - as I said, the actors don't stand out as improbable in any single episode, it's just the repetition that smacks of tokenism. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 31,153
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But that is the reality of small town life away from London. Our local junior school has a single black child in a roll of 200, for example. Crass and inappropriate as Brian True-May's fateful comments undoubtedly were he did have something of a point. Almost every person in my town is white - there simply is no escaping it.
They had, had Black characters in MM, some of the fans of the show pointed this out on the thread at the time. Pretty sure Josette Simon's name got a mention. Someone needs to find the thread from the time and have a sift. I never watched it so only have a passing interest in this. |
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#8 |
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Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Norway
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I long for the day when we see people instead of colour.
I reckon there are not many white faces in a Nigerian or Japanese tv series. But it does not matter, we are all human beings. |
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#9 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Not sure about that, Sherlock and Lewis are hugely popular in Japan and Sherlock in China
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#10 |
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Join Date: Dec 2007
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Quote:
I appreciate of course that MM is fiction but it's probably true that in the area where it's filmed, around the Chilterns, there are few if any black families. That does not excuse the absence of black characters just as there were none for years in Coronation Street when there were plenty in reality in Salford which inspired the original location. But as we all know television is not the real world....
Eastenders is supposedly set in Bow so the cast should be majority Asian! You have to laugh at media types banging on about 'representing reality' when they're stretching 'reality' to suit their own agenda. |
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#11 |
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: derby
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how many black/asian families actually live in these rural idylls midsomer supposed to represent....?
and whats wrong with promoting a white english village?... as the poster above correctly identifies eastenders should be almost totally asian... i think if i was asian, id be more angry at eastenders being too white then a rural english village... |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Sep 2005
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I lived in Salford in the 90s (in one of the tower blocks that used to feature in the opening credits of Corrie). It was practically exclusively white.
Eastenders is supposedly set in Bow so the cast should be majority Asian! You have to laugh at media types banging on about 'representing reality' when they're stretching 'reality' to suit their own agenda. Eastenders is watched nationwide by predominately white people. If it were truly representative, the ratings would take a dive. |
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#13 |
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Join Date: May 2012
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Quote:
I lived in Salford in the 90s (in one of the tower blocks that used to feature in the opening credits of Corrie). It was practically exclusively white.
Eastenders is supposedly set in Bow so the cast should be majority Asian! You have to laugh at media types banging on about 'representing reality' when they're stretching 'reality' to suit their own agenda. 16.7% White British 0.7% White Irish 0.2% White Gypsy or Irish Traveller 11.4% Other White 1.3% White & Black Caribbean 1.1% White & Black African 0.9% White & Asian 1.3% Other Mixed 13.8% Indian 9.8% Pakistani 12.1% Bangladeshi 1.3% Chinese 6.5% Other Asian 12.3% Black African 4.9% Black Caribbean 2.4% Other Black 1.1% Arab 2.3% Other Walford E20 where EE is set, is a mixture of Walthamstow and Stratford, in fact E20 has now become a real postcode of the Olympic park area. The Walford underground station is based on Bromley by Bow, but the trains they run on it seem to be anything from the District and Hammersmith and city line, to the Northern line tube stock that doesn't come anywhere near the EastEnd. Albert Square is based on a square near Mile End. |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Dec 2002
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About 13% of those living in Buckinghamshire are from a non-white ethnic background - for Oxfordshire it is a bit less at 8% - broadly similar to the Chiltern district of Buckinghamshire. The main ethnic group is Asian/Asian British rather than Black. When it comes to Oxfordshire the largest ethnic group after White and South Asian is Chinese.
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#15 |
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Join Date: Oct 2014
Posts: 2,132
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Oh FGS! Just enjoy the programme or not, all of this talk of whether Midsommer Murders features a black/Asian/African family shouldn't affect whether you enjoy watching the programme. To be honest, I've seen EVERY episode and I can't say I've ever noticed. It's only people who are clearly looking for something, anything, to complain about who do notice. You only notice if you're going out of your way to find something to notice.
I fail to see how it could ever be a subject or a problem, because if they used a black/Asian character who turned out to be a killer, I'm sure someone will complain about it. So stop complaining and just enjoy the programme please |
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#16 |
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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You're asking us to ignore something we shave noticed, and yet you open this thread, a thread in which you clearly have no interest, instead of just ignoring it.
Do you understand the meaning of hypocrisy? |
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#17 |
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Join Date: Dec 2000
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Quote:
Oh FGS! Just enjoy the programme or not, all of this talk of whether Midsommer Murders features a black/Asian/African family shouldn't affect whether you enjoy watching the programme. To be honest, I've seen EVERY episode and I can't say I've ever noticed. It's only people who are clearly looking for something, anything, to complain about who do notice. You only notice if you're going out of your way to find something to notice.
I fail to see how it could ever be a subject or a problem, because if they used a black/Asian character who turned out to be a killer, I'm sure someone will complain about it. So stop complaining and just enjoy the programme please |
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#18 |
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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Although the thread is now dealing with what proportion of non white characters would be accurate, that wasn't actually the point of my observation.
My complaint was that the non white characters seem to be being inserted on a pretty much one per episode basis. This is noticeable to many and makes it look like nothing more than a PC box ticking exercise. It would be far more natural if the want to use a certain number of non-white actors, to put a whole family in a couple of episodes. As I said in the OP, Kam's inclusion seems absolutely natural and realistic. MSM, of course, has the problem that it has a very small permanent cast, so cannot easily include a sufficient number of any group as, for example, a soap can. |
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#19 |
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Would probably not have been noteworthy if they hadn't received the negative publicity over their erstwhile producer's crass comments.
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#20 |
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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Quote:
Would probably not have been noteworthy if they hadn't received the negative publicity over their erstwhile producer's crass comments.
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#21 |
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Hasn't Mr True May now left the show following his comments ?
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#22 |
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Join Date: Apr 2010
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I wondered that. It certainly means that every time there is a non-white cast member, you think of their casting policies.
Before, I never even noticed. There could have been 25 or none per episode, I just wouldn't have thought about it. ![]() As an aside, I live in East Lancashire, and we have a high Asian population - in the towns. In the pretty rural villages of the type portrayed in MM there are practically no Asians at all, if any. I don't know why - maybe, like me, very few can afford the house prices! |
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#23 |
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: derby
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just go to antique fairs, country/county shows, anything to do with british traditional rural pursuits like fishing, hunting or in my case metal detecting .
black/asian representation is very low, almost non existent, at these events - and why should it not be so? but it highlights that having a rural based show doesnt need tokenism. |
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#24 |
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Join Date: Mar 2011
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Is this still going? Not watched for years. Should have ended with John Nettles as it was tired and formulaic then.
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#25 |
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Join Date: Dec 2001
Location: West London
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The trouble with Midsomer is that it relies on familiar faces and stereotypical characters to create a show that is comforting, easy-to-watch and doesn't challenge its viewers.
Obviously there are plenty of ways to write in non-white characters but a typical Midsomer episode has an awful lot of characters and they are nearly all white for plot reasons: a family with several feuding siblings and probably a pair of feuding ageing parents, some more relations with a grudge, a group of people linked by a traditional village pastime (see mushymanrob's comment above) and an event that attracts outsiders, like a festival. Inevitably it will be the outsiders who might just include a black or Asian actor, either as artists, novelists, musicians etc or as incomers whose business brings them into deadly conflict with the locals. If the plots were a bit more original there might be organic, non-tokenist reasons for including non-white characters. |
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