Midsomer Murders race row: Fans defend show as co-star suggests ‘black gardener’

By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:36 PM on 15th March 2011

Suspended: Brian True-May made the comments in an interview with the Radio Times

Midsomer has had to deal with more than its fair share of murders.

But today it was engulfed in a very different kind of drama after its co-creator was suspended for revealing he deliberately keeps ethnic minority characters out of the show.

Brian True-May, the ITV drama’s executive producer, created a storm by saying he did not use black or Asian people in the series because ‘it wouldn’t be an English village with them’.

He described Midsomer Murders as the ‘last bastion of Englishness’ which relied on an ‘English genteel eccentricity’, claiming it ‘wouldn’t work’ if it suggested there was racial diversity in village life.

Mr True-May told the Radio Times if he had more minority cast members ‘we might be in Slough’.

His comments sparked fury among charities and campaigners and he was suspended by the production company behind the show. ITV also said it was ‘shocked and appalled’.

But scores of viewers made clear they felt the suspension was a total overreaction and his own co-stars came out in support.

Neil Dudgeon, who
has taken over the lead role from John Nettles, said he more than
trusted his producer’s judgment.

He said: ‘If people have been
quite happy for it not to really change in 14 years, there’s no reason
to suppose they’re going to want it to change now.’

Jason Hughes,
who plays DS Ben Jones added that he had always wondered whether any
Asian or black characters would be brought into the show.

He said:
‘I don’t think we would all suddenly go, “A black gardener in Midsomer?
You can’t have that!” ‘I think we’d all go, ‘Great, fantastic”.’

Popular: Actors John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby and Jason Hughes as DS Ben Jones in Midsomer Murders. Nettles quit the show after 13 years and 74 episodes

Character change: Neil Dudgeon and Fiona Dolman are joining Midsomer Murders as the new Barnabys. He will play DCI John Barnaby, a cousin of Nettles’s character Tom Barnaby and she will be his headmistress wife

Viewers writing online agreed the producer’s comments were clumsy but pointed out that Midsomer could hardly be seen as a typical English village given that it had such an unrealistically high murder rate.

On
the website digitalspy’s chat room, one user called cloudfactory said it
was ‘ridiculous’ he was suspended for ‘saying something perfectly
reasonable’.

Another writing as Hot Gossip said: ‘There are villages all over the country with a mainly white population.
That’s just how it is.

‘Our village is very large and has a population
of over 2000 and I have to say there are no black people living here. 

‘There are a couple of mixed race children at the local school and we
once had an Asian GP. We have some white East Europeans but that’s about
it.

‘It’s just normal here and I never actually think about there being no black people until I visit other parts of the country.’

Mickmars said: ‘The
“hysterical take everything in the wrong context” brigade strike again.
The guy has obviously been doing something right for all these years, the
ratings prove that!’

One poster, writing as WhiteFang, said: ‘I live in a small Norfolk
village and you can see the way the programme makers are forcing PC
mutliculturalism on the viewing public through TV.’

Another writing as hallam said: ‘So the argument is Midsomer Murders
is “an accurate representation of village life”. Right. So how many
villages are there in England with a stupidly high murder rate?’

Poster Sloopy called ITV ‘melodramatic’ and insisted it was pointless to parachute in ‘token characters to make up the numbers’.

Other long running serials, including BBC Radio 4’s The Archers, have
also been criticised over ‘tokenism’ when they have included ethnic
characters.

The production company behind the show – All3Media –
suspended the TV executive and ITV said it was ‘shocked and appalled’ at
his remarks.

Midsomer Murders, based on the books by Caroline Graham, was launched
in 1997 and has featured 251 deaths, 222 of which were murders.

The series returns this week with a new star replacing actor John Nettles who played the central character, DCI Tom Barnaby.

Mr True-May said: ‘When I talk to people and other nations they love John Nettles, but they also love the premise of the show. 

‘They love the perceived English genteel eccentricity. It’s not British, it’s very English.

‘We
are a cosmopolitan society in this country, but if you watch Midsomer
you wouldn’t think so. I’ve never been picked up on that, but quite
honestly I wouldn’t want to change it.’

When asked to clarify what he meant, he added. ‘Well, we just don’t have
ethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn’t be the English village
with them. It just wouldn’t work. Suddenly we might be in Slough.

‘Ironically, Causton the fictional local town in Midsomer Murders is
supposed to be Slough. And if you went in to Slough you wouldn’t see a
white face there.

‘We’re the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way.’

He admitted that Englishness should include other races, but added: ‘Maybe I’m not politically correct’. 

Mr True-May, who lives in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, near
where parts of the show are filmed, added: ‘I’m trying to make something
that appeals to a certain audience, which seems to succeed.

‘And I don’t
want to change it.’

Yet another murder to solve: Nettles as DCI Barnaby and Caroline Langrishe as Susan Fincher race to the scene in this episode entitled Blood On The Saddle

Midsomer Murders, based on the books by Caroline Graham, was launched in 1997 and has featured 251 deaths, 222 of which were murders. The series returns this week

Campaigners accused the executive of trying to ‘wipe’ ethnic
minorities ‘off the screen’ and of ‘distorting’ the presence of black
and Asian people in rural areas.

Rob Berkeley, of race equality think tank, the Runnymede Trust said:
‘Clearly, as a fictional work, the producers of  Midsomer Murders are
entitled to their flights of fancy, but to claim the English village is
purely white is no longer true and not a fair reflection of our
society.’

Mohammed Shafiq, of the Ramadhan Foundation, which aims to create a
better understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims, said: ‘There is a
wider agenda in what he is saying which is worrying for me.

‘To try to wipe us or our presence off television screens is wrong and factually incorrect.’

Last
month Mark Damazer, Radio 4’s former controller, said radio shows
should better reflect modern British society, although he cautioned
against deliberately targeting ethnic groups.

Mr True-May last night said he had been instructed by lawyers not to
comment. His tearful wife, Maureen, described his suspension as
‘ridiculous’.

Villagers in Great Missenden leapt to the producer’s defence. Roy
Stock, 63, said: ‘The whole reason of the show is to depict the tiny
little villages of England.

‘There just aren’t any ethnic people around here. In everyday life in Great Missenden you wouldn’t see any at all.’