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Should Black British actors head to Hollywood?

Dearly beloved,

Mr Vex would like to talk about David Harewood. The actor who has starred in Mandela, Doctor Who and other television roles has recently made comments encouraging Black British actors to ‘head to Hollywood as quickly as they can as they won’t find leading roles in the UK.’ Wow. Controversial viewpoint!! But does he have a point? Yours truly digested the evidence and has come to one conclusion... oh hell yeah! I agree 100%. Why? Well, let’s examine the evidence...

When was the last time you saw a Black actor in a leading role on television? I have yet to see something that has appealed to me. I know. I apologise. I am, a harsh man. What about Luther you say? Hahahahahahaha!! Silly you! Silly me! Of course there’s Luther!! How could I have forgotten about the fantastic Luther? Let me make something abundantly clear, if the brilliantly talented Idris Elba didn’t appear in the critically-acclaimed series The Wire, it would be highly unlikely that the BBC would have poured money into Luther. So therefore, by using Idris as an example– Mr Harewood’s point has been proved. It seems that you have to be established elsewhere, before a UK broadcaster would even sniff at your door with a decent role.

In my opinion, there should be a mass exodus to Hollywood as there is a SERIOUS lack of decent roles for Black actors on television! Check out Eastenders... Black people either work in the Minute Mart or the pub or come across as stereotypes from the Notting Hill Carnival of yesteryear.

Absolutely ridiculous!! The only other leading Black roles that seem to be available on TV nowadays are the ones that involve ghetto life/ghetto crimes/drugs/baby fathers/baby mothers - all that blah!! TV broadcasters seem to think that this is the way forward with regards to Black actors! After all, they base their programming decisions on what they think we want to see.

Do you remember Top Boy? It was the controversial ‘urban’ drama written by the talented White, middle-aged author Ronan Bennett? Of course you do!! It was the show that caused a lot of fuss last year and had everyone talking. Now, Top Boy had leading Black actors in it and was a perfect example of young Black British life in Britain? Oh. You didn’t think it was? Maybe you have a point! I have a point too (and maybe you know this as well)… There is a place for dramas such as Top Boy, but there should be other places as well. There is no variety on UK Television. No other exploration. We just see the same thing churned out on a repeated cycle every few years. No wonder actors such as David Harewood, Idris Elba, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste have departed for American shores.

There should be more range on television for our shining stars. I guess the point I’m trying to make is that if broadcasters changed their way of thinking with regards to programming, then Black actors would not need to go over to America and chase the variety of roles on offer over there!! Idris may have played a drug dealer in The Wire – but this fantastic ACTOR (yes, actor) also played a Norse God in the Hollywood blockbuster Thor. So point proved. UK broadcasters had better change their stodgy attitudes, or face losing the best Black acting talent around to the Yanks, because our loss… will sadly be Hollywood’s gain!

Vex Out!!!

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