Quote:
Originally Posted by alex_front2
http://www.theguardian.com/media/201...bbc-john-yorke
The last Shabnam didn't get any SL and was a background character to Karly Wicks and Dawn Swann. There was a scene in Shabnam's first stint when all three lasses came back from clubbing and Zainab and Massood were annoyed and bizarrely Shabnam did the least talking in this scene....to her parents?! No wonder the previous Shabnam actress Zahra Ahmadi left over lack of SLs she was merely an extra in the Stacey Branning show.
If she's shrewd Rakhee can hold DTC and the production team to ransom over getting top storylines. EE has played lip service to diversity and has never had a lead character or an iconic character who is not white (eg Pat Wicks, Phil Mitchell, Dirty Den, Sharon, Stacey, Dot Cotton, Ronnie, Nasty Nick are iconic) which eould be hilarious if it wasn't for the fact large swathes of eastend are non white. DTC has decreased the amount of non white characters eg Sam and Ava (Shabnam obviously is not anew character) whilst slyly adding 7 white characters.
http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/2014/...-asian-actors/
http://www.thetvcollective.org/2014/...ack-and-white/
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I'd hardly call Stacey and Ronnie icons. The longest-serving of the two has barely been in it a decade (with a 3-year gap) and it's not like her name is instantly recognisable with ex-viewers and those who have never watched. Same for Ronnie. Couldn't care less about colour and I'd imagine most others don't give a second thought to the supposed 'under representation' of ethnic minorities.
You referring to all ethnic minority characters as 'white' is wrong as well. Irish people and those from all across Europe are just examples of white people who are classed as minorities in Britain - we haven't had a Russian or Latvian family in the show's history; are these to be ignored because of their light skin tone?