Emmerdale are to introduce a new black family
Image Source/ Liverpool Echo
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John Whiston, Managing Director of Continuing Drama and Head of ITV in the North, has confirmed the ITV soap is currently casting the new characters, who will come in “right at the heart of the village”, in a response to the Black Lives Matter movement.
He told Digital Spy:
‘On Emmerdale we are currently casting a brand-new black family who will come in right at the heart of the village.
‘The Black Lives Matter movement rightly gave us an impetus to a great many initiatives on screen and off screen.
‘Off screen, we’re working on our Diversity Acceleration Plan, which is part of ITV’s overall Diversity Action Plan’.
Emmerdale are also planning to increase the number of BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnicity) production staff they employ.
John added:
‘For us, a key part of that is increasing the number of BAME writers and directors we employ as they are the key creative powerhouse behind the shows.
‘This is something we are making real progress on, though obviously there is more to be done’.
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This comes after Coronation Street introduced the soap’s first-ever black family, the Baileys, in June 2019.
Speaking in April 2019, ‘Corrie’ executive producer Iain MacLeod said:
‘The north-west and Great Britain as a whole is a big melting pot of people from different backgrounds and ethnicities and the more representative we can make ‘Corrie’ of Manchester and Britain the better really.
‘It was a no-brainer, but I mean, as with anything on ‘Coronation Street’, it was the characters that came first and [the Baileys] were just instantly likeable’.
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