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FLYING THE FLAG: Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon

THE LACK of racial diversity on primetime TV has been the subject of an endless stream of discussion. The crux of the matter is that Britain is more multicultural than it has ever been, yet our television screens seem to have not yet got the memo.

Limited roles – after all there can only be one John Luther – are forcing black actors to look to the US for fresh opportunities. RADA-trained David Harewood played a major role in several primetime American drama series such as Homeland, for example. And BAFTA-winner Noel Clark has gone from writing and directing his own material in Britain, to roles in Hollywood blockbusters like Star Trek.

But when it comes to their female counterparts, some would argue that black actresses and presenters in Britain are almost invisible.

Who do young black females have to look up to and represent them? In a recent interview with Cosmopolitan magazine, Britain’s Got Talent judge Alesha Dixon opened up about the under-representation of black women in the media.

PRIME-TIME

“There still aren’t many black women on prime-time TV,” she said. “Times are changing, but it’s interesting we’re in 2013 and still experiencing firsts. Hopefully in the next 100 years things will balance even more.”

Growing up Alesha acknowledged missing out on having a role model she could identify with or aspire to. “When I saw Neneh Cherry singing on TV, I was so glad that there was someone of the same ethnicity and with the same curly hair for me to look up to,” she added.

ITV newsreader Charlene White, who previously worked as a features writer for the New York Post, acknowledges the current state of diversity on TV is not ideal, but remained hopeful.

She said: “The industry hasn’t been great when it comes to the representation of many different cultures and sections of British society, but the situation is slowly improving.”

British comedian, playwright and TV host Angie Le Mar, however, believes there is an urgent need for change. “We can mix it up now and again. We need positive discrimination,” she said.

MEDIA VETERAN: Angie Le Mar

Currently filming the new series of Ladies Talk, a format similar to Loose Women targeting an international black audience, she added: “It’s time to accept we are more loved in the rest of the world. Ladies Talk is about building a place for women of colour to have a conversation. There is so much going on in our community, and we have a big contribution to make.”

Le Mar said it was down to audiences to demand networks to showcase more black women on TV and in film.

Simone Bresi-Ando, founder of I’mPOSSIBLE, a social enterprise aimed at empowering young women of colour in Britain, said she is frustrated that producers and programme-makers appear to lack the foresight to cast a diverse range of actors, across a variety of roles where race is irrelevant.

“It’s boring as well as frustrating,” she told The Voice. Winner of the Women Inspiration & Enterprise Leadership Award, she believes the lack of opportunities contributes to black British women seeking roles abroad.

OPPORTUNITIES

“The opportunities in the States are boundless in my eyes. There’s a reason why the US and Africa are the two places on earth where black billionaires were created. Having powerful networks can really change your life in ways you can only imagine,” she explained.

White agrees that the upward spring in African and Caribbean economies is allowing talented people to broaden their horizons.

“The term ‘across the pond’ means so much more than just America,” she explained. “What with the rise of emerging economies, a lot of talent is gravitating towards the country of their parents’ birth, or their birth.”

PRIME-TIME: Big Brother’s Bit On The Side host AJ Odudu

Referencing TV presenter and actress Joselyn Dumas who was raised in UK, White said: “Rather than wait years to make her mark in the UK, she launched a career in Ghana instead, and has done phenomenally well.”

Turning the spotlight on black British women in the UK within the media industry is TV broadcaster Leah Charles-King who is currently producing a documentary series called (In)visible Women.

“After winning a media award I was so delighted, it made me question where all the other British black role models were,” she told The Voice.

While working on a TV show she recalls one of the executive producers candidly explaining to her that she would never be allowed onto what was perceived to be a prime-time show because she was black.

It was then that Charles-King campaigned to get a meeting with every head of department and executive producer at major networks. “I got to have a coffee with a well respected head of department at the BBC. He’s responsible for some of the best shows you may have watched on telly.”

He did not doubt her talent, but acknowledged there are challenges for women of colour.
Charles-King left the UK and worked as a red carpet correspondent for BET USA and BET International.

DREAM

“I was living my dream. However, I felt I was no longer flying the British flag and being part of the change within the UK media mindset.”

It may be the sensible thing for black women to go farther afield if they are not being given opportunities to showcase their talent or roles that pander to the sassy sex siren or loud black woman stereotype.

As Le Mar said, “If you are not getting the love at home, it’s natural to look elsewhere.”

Despite this, black women are making in-roads. New Channel 5 TV presenter AJ Odudu, who is Nigerian British and grew up in Blackburn is one example. White added: “I was determined to keep at it in the UK, so that people could understand that it is possible.”