ITV 'set to bring in quotas for more black and Asian actors' after channel's drama director brands all-white casts 'frankly dull'

US-style 'quota' system would give minority actors guaranteed roles

Some of ITV's top shows including Mr Selfridge have 'all-white casts'



David Harewood and Lenny Henry want more done on TV diversity



ITV is set to increase the number of black, Asian and ethnic minority actors on its drama shows by introducing quotas, it was claimed today.

The US-style diversity system would give guaranteed roles to an agreed number of minority actors, and will reportedly be announced later this month by ITV television director Peter Fincham.

It comes after ITV drama director Steve November branded the all-white casts on some of the channel’s most-watched shows including Mr Selfridge and Doc Martin as ‘frankly dull’.

All-white: The US-style diversity 'quota' system would see an agreed number of minority actors guaranteed roles. The cast of ITV period drama Mr Selfridge are pictured No black actors: ITV medical drama Doc Martin, with Men Behaving Badly star Martin Clunes pictured centre

A campaign supported by British ethnic minority stars including David Harewood, Meera Syal and Lenny Henry has called on more to be done to get non-white actors into the TV industry.

And an ITV source told the Sunday Mirror: ‘There is going to be a real push here to get more black and Asian people on some of the biggest shows on the channel.’

BBC Director-General Tony Hall said last month that the Corporation would set up a new £2.1million 'diversity creative talent fund' to help 'fast-track' shows by ethnic minority talent onto the screen.

He also announced that the BBC would create a series of development programmes aimed at encouraging future commissioners and executives from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Changes: A campaign supported by British ethnic minority stars including Lenny Henry (left) and David Harewood (right) has called on more to be done to get non-white actors into the TV industry

Diversity push: Some shows like Downton Abbey have managed to introduce black faces in later series

However, earlier this month British actor Ricky Whittle - a former star of Hollyoaks and contestant on Strictly Come Dancing - said he believes UK television is ahead of the US in terms of diversity.

'There is going to be a real push here to get more black and Asian people on some of the biggest shows on the channel' ITV source

The 32-year-old Manchester-born star is in the cast of hit new US drama The 100 but said he feels ‘typecast’ by the roles he is being offered across the Atlantic since moving to Los Angeles.

His comments come in the wake of claims that the reverse is true, with some British black actors saying they were finding more opportunities in the US than at home.

Harewood has said in the past how he has struggled to find roles at home despite drawing acclaim and an enhanced public profile for his appearances in US drama Homeland.

Changes: The quota will reportedly be announced this month by ITV television director Peter Fincham (pictured)

Today, he told the Sunday Mirror: ‘Quota is not an ugly word. We have to look at the concept, look at the American model, see how it worked and encourage - maybe even by law - the employment of a specific number of Bame (black and minority ethnic) actors to start pushing those people through.’

'Quota is not an ugly word. We have to look at the concept, look at the American model, see how it worked' David Harewood

Last month Henry told MPs that Britain had been ‘haemorrhaging’ talent to the US because of the mistaken belief over in the UK that ethnic minority actors do not have enough star power.

The acting chairman of the BBC Trust - the corporation's governing body - has also recently said that it should do more to 'provide an authentic portrayal' of modern Britain

Diane Coyle, who is in the running to replace Lord Patten as head of the trust, admitted its flagship soap EastEnders is 'almost twice' as white as the real East London.