{"id":311421,"date":"2011-03-15T13:36:57","date_gmt":"2011-03-15T13:36:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/03\/15\/midsomer-murders-race-row-fans-defend-show-as-co-star-suggests-black-gardener\/"},"modified":"2011-03-15T13:36:57","modified_gmt":"2011-03-15T13:36:57","slug":"midsomer-murders-race-row-fans-defend-show-as-co-star-suggests-black-gardener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/15\/midsomer-murders-race-row-fans-defend-show-as-co-star-suggests-black-gardener\/","title":{"rendered":"Midsomer Murders race row: Fans defend show as co-star suggests &#8216;black gardener&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div readability=\"228.26846685\">\n<!-- google_ad_section_start(name=s2) --><\/p>\n<p>\nBy<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/home\/search.html?s=y&#038;authornamef=Daily+Mail+Reporter\" rel=\"nofollow\">Daily Mail Reporter<\/a><br \/>Last updated at 1:36 PM on 15th March 2011<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n<div readability=\"7\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/e7802fbd304_233x423.jpg.jpg\" width=\"233\" height=\"423\" alt=\"Suspended: Brian True-May made the comments in an interview with the Radio Times\" class=\"blkBorder\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Suspended: Brian True-May made the comments in an interview with the Radio Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Midsomer has had to deal with more than its fair share of murders.<\/p>\n<p>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. <\/p>\n<p>Brian True-May, the ITV drama\u2019s executive producer, created a storm by saying he did not use black or Asian people in the series because &#8216;it wouldn\u2019t be an English village with them&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>He described Midsomer Murders as the &#8216;last bastion of Englishness&#8217; which relied on an &#8216;English genteel eccentricity&#8217;, claiming it &#8216;wouldn\u2019t work&#8217; if it suggested there was racial diversity in village life.<\/p>\n<p>Mr True-May told the Radio Times if he had more minority cast members &#8216;we might be in Slough&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>His comments sparked fury among charities and campaigners and he was suspended by the production company behind the show. ITV also said it was &#8216;shocked and appalled&#8217;. <\/p>\n<p>But scores of viewers made clear they felt the suspension was a total overreaction and his own co-stars came out in support. <\/p>\n<p>Neil Dudgeon, who<br \/>\nhas taken over the lead role from John Nettles, said he more than<br \/>\ntrusted his producer&#8217;s judgment.<\/p>\n<p>He said: &#8216;If people have been<br \/>\nquite happy for it not to really change in 14 years, there&#8217;s no reason<br \/>\nto suppose they&#8217;re going to want it to change now.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Jason Hughes,<br \/>\nwho plays DS Ben Jones added that he had always wondered whether any<br \/>\nAsian or black characters would be brought into the show.<\/p>\n<p>He said:<br \/>\n&#8216;I don&#8217;t think we would all suddenly go, &#8220;A black gardener in Midsomer?<br \/>\nYou can&#8217;t have that!&#8221; &#8216;I think we&#8217;d all go, &#8216;Great, fantastic&#8221;.&#8217;<\/p>\n<div readability=\"8\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/429c1a28256_468x515.jpg.jpg\" width=\"468\" height=\"515\" alt=\"Popular: Actors John Nettles as DCI Tom Barnaby and Jason Hughes as DS Ben Jones in Midsomer Murders \" class=\"blkBorder\" \/><\/p>\n<p>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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div readability=\"10\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/882d012396_468x614.jpg.jpg\" width=\"468\" height=\"614\" alt=\"Character change: Neil Dudgeon and Fiona Dolman are joining Midsomer Murders as the new Barnabys\" class=\"blkBorder\" \/><\/p>\n<p>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&#8217;s character Tom Barnaby and she will be his headmistress wife<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Viewers writing online agreed the producer&#8217;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. <\/p>\n<p>On<br \/>\nthe website digitalspy&#8217;s chat room, one user called cloudfactory said it<br \/>\nwas &#8216;ridiculous&#8217; he was suspended for &#8216;saying something perfectly<br \/>\nreasonable&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Another writing as Hot Gossip said: &#8216;There are villages all over the country with a mainly white population.<br \/>\nThat&#8217;s just how it is. <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Our village is very large and has a population<br \/>\nof over 2000 and I have to say there are no black people living here.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;There are a couple of mixed race children at the local school and we<br \/>\nonce had an Asian GP. We have some white East Europeans but that&#8217;s about<br \/>\nit.<\/p>\n<div readability=\"28\">\n<h3><span>PROFILE: MR MIDSOMER <\/span><\/h3>\n<div readability=\"51\">\n<p>Brian True-May has been with ITV since 1973 when he started as an<br \/>\nassistant floor manager on Thriller, an anthology supernatural and<br \/>\nmurder-mystery series.<\/p>\n<p>He then went to work on Disraeli, which<br \/>\nstarred Ian McShane, as a location administrator, which he also did for<br \/>\ntwo other shows, Shine On Harvey Moon and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (below).<\/p>\n<p>Mr<br \/>\nTrue-May then became producer on The Broker&#8217;s Man and Ultimate Force,<br \/>\nbefore joining Midsomer Murders in 1997 to produce the pilot show which<br \/>\naired on March 23 1997.<\/p>\n<p>He remained as executive producer until his suspension yesterday and has overseen 81 episodes, 222 murders and high ratings.<\/p>\n<p>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/296b5ae9732_223x237.jpg.jpg\" width=\"223\" height=\"237\" alt=\"Howay the lads: True-May also worked on Auf Wiedersehen Pet in the Eighties starring Jimmy Page, Tim Healy and Timothy Spall\" class=\"blkBorder\" \/><\/p>\n<p>It has also been sold to almost 40 countries around the world and every series has been released on DVD.<\/p>\n<p>Having<br \/>\nbeen with the show for 14 years, he would do all he can for it,<br \/>\nincluding writing to the Prime Minister when it was threatened by a rail<br \/>\nlink.<\/p>\n<p>He wrote to David Cameron last November to voice concern<br \/>\nabout\u00a0 plans to build a track through the Chilterns, which he said would<br \/>\npose a threat to the location filming.<\/p>\n<p>He hoped to play on the<br \/>\nfact that Cameron is a fan of the show after reportedly lining up a<br \/>\n&#8216;Midsomer Murders marathon&#8217; at Chequers when German chancellor Angela<br \/>\nMerkel &#8211; also believed to be a big fan &#8211; came to visit.<\/p>\n<p>True-May<br \/>\nsaid at the time: &#8216;I\u2019ve written to the Prime Minister saying, &#8220;You and<br \/>\nAngela Merkel may love the show. But the proposed route for HS2 goes<br \/>\nstraight through the middle of Midsomer Murders. <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;How on<br \/>\nEarth are we going to film it with all that noise going on? It will<br \/>\nupset not just us but things like Lewis, Poirot and Miss Marple, all<br \/>\nfilming around the area. We\u2019ll suddenly lose our sets.&#8217;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>&#8216;It&#8217;s just normal here and I never actually think about there being no black people until I visit other parts of the country.&#8217; <\/p>\n<p>Mickmars said: &#8216;The<br \/>\n&#8220;hysterical take everything in the wrong context&#8221; brigade strike again.<br \/>\nThe guy has obviously been doing something right for all these years, the<br \/>\nratings prove that!&#8217;\n<\/p>\n<p>One poster, writing as WhiteFang, said: &#8216;I live in a small Norfolk<br \/>\nvillage and you can see the way the programme makers are forcing PC<br \/>\nmutliculturalism on the viewing public through TV.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Another writing as hallam said: &#8216;So the argument is Midsomer Murders<br \/>\nis &#8220;an accurate representation of village life&#8221;. Right. So how many<br \/>\nvillages are there in England with a stupidly high murder rate?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Poster Sloopy called ITV &#8216;melodramatic&#8217; and insisted it was pointless to parachute in &#8216;token characters to make up the numbers&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Other long running serials, including BBC Radio 4&#8217;s The Archers, have<br \/>\nalso been criticised over &#8216;tokenism&#8217; when they have included ethnic<br \/>\ncharacters.<\/p>\n<p>The production company behind the show &#8211; All3Media &#8211;<br \/>\nsuspended the TV executive and ITV said it was &#8216;shocked and appalled&#8217; at<br \/>\nhis remarks.<\/p>\n<p>Midsomer Murders, based on the books by Caroline Graham, was launched<br \/>\nin 1997 and has featured 251 deaths, 222 of which were murders. <\/p>\n<p>The series returns this week with a new star replacing actor John Nettles who played the central character, DCI Tom Barnaby. <\/p>\n<p>Mr True-May said: &#8216;When I talk to people and other nations they love John Nettles, but they also love the premise of the show.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;They love the perceived English genteel eccentricity. It\u2019s not British, it&#8217;s very English. <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We<br \/>\nare a cosmopolitan society in this country, but if you watch Midsomer<br \/>\nyou wouldn\u2019t think so. I\u2019ve never been picked up on that, but quite<br \/>\nhonestly I wouldn\u2019t want to change it.&#8217; <\/p>\n<p>When asked to clarify what he meant, he added. &#8216;Well, we just don\u2019t have<br \/>\nethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn\u2019t be the English village<br \/>\nwith them. It just wouldn\u2019t work. Suddenly we might be in Slough. <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Ironically, Causton the fictional local town in Midsomer Murders is<br \/>\nsupposed to be Slough. And if you went in to Slough you wouldn\u2019t see a<br \/>\nwhite face there. <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;We\u2019re the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way.&#8217; <\/p>\n<p>He admitted that Englishness should include other races, but added: &#8216;Maybe I\u2019m not politically correct&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Mr True-May, who lives in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, near<br \/>\nwhere parts of the show are filmed, added: &#8216;I\u2019m trying to make something<br \/>\nthat appeals to a certain audience, which seems to succeed. <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;And I don\u2019t<br \/>\nwant to change it.&#8217; <\/p>\n<div readability=\"8\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/ffa8df62669_468x332.jpg.jpg\" width=\"468\" height=\"332\" alt=\"Yet another murder to solve: John Nettles as DCI Barnaby and Caroline Langrishe as Susan Fincher race to the scene in this episode entitled Blood On The Saddle\" class=\"blkBorder\" \/><\/p>\n<p>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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div readability=\"8\">\n<div readability=\"11\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/e203ab9f534_468x395.jpg.jpg\" width=\"468\" height=\"395\" alt=\"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\" class=\"blkBorder\" \/><\/p>\n<p>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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Campaigners accused the executive of trying to &#8216;wipe&#8217; ethnic<br \/>\nminorities &#8216;off the screen&#8217; and of &#8216;distorting&#8217; the presence of black<br \/>\nand Asian people in rural areas. <\/p>\n<div readability=\"10\">\n<h3><span>VIEWERS&#8217; ANGER<\/span><br \/><\/h3>\n<div readability=\"15\">\n<p><span><span>&#8216;Programme makers are forcing PC<br \/>\nmulticulturalism on the viewing public through TV&#8217; <\/span>White Fang<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>&#8216;There are villages all over the country with a mainly white population.<br \/>\nThat&#8217;s just how it is&#8217; <\/span>Hot Gossip<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>&#8216;So the argument is Midsomer Murders<br \/>\nis &#8220;an accurate representation of village life&#8221;. Right. So how many<br \/>\nvillages are there in England with a stupidly high murder rate?&#8217; <span>Hallam<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Source: Digital Spy chat room<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rob Berkeley, of race equality think tank, the Runnymede Trust said:<br \/>\n&#8216;Clearly, as a fictional work, the producers of\u00a0 Midsomer Murders are<br \/>\nentitled to their flights of fancy, but to claim the English village is<br \/>\npurely white is no longer true and not a fair reflection of our<br \/>\nsociety.&#8217; <\/p>\n<p>Mohammed Shafiq, of the Ramadhan Foundation, which aims to create a<br \/>\nbetter understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims, said: &#8216;There is a<br \/>\nwider agenda in what he is saying which is worrying for me. <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;To try to wipe us or our presence off television screens is wrong and factually incorrect.&#8217; <\/p>\n<p>Last<br \/>\nmonth Mark Damazer, Radio 4\u2019s former controller, said radio shows<br \/>\nshould better reflect modern British society, although he cautioned<br \/>\nagainst deliberately targeting ethnic groups.<\/p>\n<p>Mr True-May last night said he had been instructed by lawyers not to<br \/>\ncomment. His tearful wife, Maureen, described his suspension as<br \/>\n&#8216;ridiculous&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>Villagers in Great Missenden leapt to the producer&#8217;s defence. Roy<br \/>\nStock, 63, said: &#8216;The whole reason of the show is to depict the tiny<br \/>\nlittle villages of England. <\/p>\n<p>&#8216;There just aren\u2019t any ethnic people around here. In everyday life in Great Missenden you wouldn\u2019t see any at all.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>\n<!-- google_ad_section_end(name=s2) --><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/429c1a28256_468x515.jpg-150x150.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>More:<br \/>\n<a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/tvshowbiz\/article-1366331\/Midsomer-Murders-race-row-Fans-defend-star-suggests-black-gardener.html?ITO=1490\" title=\"Midsomer Murders race row: Fans defend show as co-star suggests 'black gardener'\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Midsomer Murders race row: Fans defend show as co-star suggests &#8216;black gardener&#8217;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> 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. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-311421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Midsomer Murders race row: Fans defend show as co-star suggests &#039;black gardener&#039; - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/03\/15\/midsomer-murders-race-row-fans-defend-show-as-co-star-suggests-black-gardener\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Midsomer Murders race row: Fans defend show as co-star suggests &#039;black gardener&#039; - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"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. 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