‘You only see Muslims on TV as terrorists’: RADA chief hits out at UK TV industry over far-right protests
9 August 2024, 10:26 | Updated: 9 August 2024, 10:39
The TV industry “must bear some responsibility” for the far-right riots following the Southport murders, the chair of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) has said.
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Over 500 people have been arrested following more than a week of disorder sparked by the killings of six-year-old Bebe King, Elsie Dot Stancombe, aged seven, and nine-year-old Alice Dasilva Aguiar on July 29.
False information spread online has been widely blamed for the riots along with far-right figures such as Tommy Robinson and anti-immigration politicians such as Nigel Farage.
However, RADA chief Marcus Ryder OBE has questioned the role of the UK TV industry saying “problematic” representations of minority communities are at least partially to blame for the “dehumanisation” that has led to the riots.
He wrote on social media: “UK TV must bear some responsibility in how it has portrayed these communities.
“For too long we have measured diversity and success by counting the racial identities of the ‘individuals’ on-screen and not realised that communities are just as important if not more so.”
Mr Ryder told The Independent: “If you want to walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes and truly understand their reality, you understand through drama, you don’t understand it through news and current affairs.
“It’s why the Mr Bates v the Post Office was so important, because people finally emotionally understood and engaged with the issue despite it being covered in news and current affairs programmes previously. It was only until the drama that they could connect.”
Discussing the difference in the portrayal of individuals compared to communities, Mr Ryder wrote: “The rioters are not ‘protesting’ or rioting against individuals.
“I am sure if you ask them many will say ‘they are not racist’ and ‘I have Muslim/Black friends’. They are rioting/protesting against communities.”
On Netflix dramas about Muslims, he said: “The only time you see the Muslim community is when it was riddled with would-be terrorists. You see a glimpse into the community but it’s somehow akin to terrorism.
“The positive Muslim characters are not in their communities, the ones who are in their communities are negative and potential terrorists. The positive characters are normally outside of their communities and normally working with a white saviour. So, it’s problematic.”
He added that the Desmond’s, which is widely thought to be Britain’s most successful black sitcom, is an example of a positive representation of a community allowing a community to be “humanised” rather than “othered”.
He said: “It was groundbreaking because it was just black people in the barber shop. The community itself is not problematic, there might be problems but the problems are not borne out of the community. They weren’t systemic. No guns, no violence, no drugs.”
Mr Ryder believes diversity of decision-makers in the industry such as executives and scriptwriters would help to improve the issue as he commended the BBC for commissioning a report on representations of Muslims in the media.
“I don’t know what it’s like to be an old person in Wales, so can I commission an accurate representation of Welsh people? It’s not because I’m a bad person. It’s not because they’re bad people but we need more Muslims and more diversity,” he said.
