General lack of Chinese people on TV

Oh it's all done on a colour points system, like mixing paints on your palette. 1 negro is worth 10 chinese, 2 pakistanis and 5 turks. It also helps calibrate the TV cameras.


You forgot the compulsory over-represented, obligatory grating regional accent.
 
One thing that strikes me is how 'materialistic' it is (if that's the right word). I mean diversity of physical appearance. You could have diversity of ideas for example, and to hell with physical appearance.
 
Surely it is ultimately limited by the number of Asian or Chinese people who choose to be actors.

If, culturally, acting is not a big deal in such communities and Chinese and Asian individuals tend towards more worthwhile occupations then what can TV production companies do./ They can't force people in front of the cameras.

Even if it is seen as worthy as any other job, if only 1% of the population is Chinese then in theory only 1% of the acting pool will be chinese too.
 
You're right I forgot the accents.

When I watch the ITV 2,3,4 there is always someone at the end of the prog doing the regional accent and telling me to stay tuned for the next exciting prog.


Another thing the 6.30 evening BBC London local news has an attractive young lady reporter but she has a really strong Geordie accent.

Now I like the Geordie accent but for the London local news it does seem a little out of place.

She was in Leicester Square a few weeks back interviewing Sly Stallone and it was obvious he was really struggling to understand her questions.

I believe Sly has a hearing problem anyway so trying to get the gist of the Geordie accent must have been a challenge to him.


Here's an idea if it's a local London news prog why not get people that sound like they come from London.


If it's a Manchester local news prog get those with a Mancurian accent.
 
Yeah, I think ethnic was the wrong word for me to use in my previous post. I can't edit it though now. :) I meant minorities groups though, but not really sure the Irish are a different ethnicity.
 
:D marvellous!



38b

I understand where the OP is coming from, I mean once you've seen one Chinese person on TV, you quite fancy seeing another one on TV about half an hour later.
 
Because this isn't China..?

Seriously, the British population is hardly built up by Chinese people..I'm sure in China they don't worry about the lack of British people on their TV.
 
I agree with you. There are also a lot of favourable cultural impressions you get from African American-ness. Young Chinese and Pakistani people are (I'm guessing) listening to rap as much as anyone else.
 
There is a lack of chinese actors in the UK ask any casting agent film or television producer. The only 3 UK chinese actors I can think of at the moment are Burt Kwouk from the Pink Panther films and David Yip and Robert Lee from the Chinese Detective. All three are great actors and very under rated.

Just remembered Wendy Kweh from The Bill but she was born in Singapore.

What about Japanese actors they seem to be even more rare on UK television. Naoko Mori from Torchwood springs to mind. Rumours she was sacked because her acting was not up to scratch. It's Torchwood not Shakespear, personally I liked her and she was a better actor than John Barrowman.
 
Pakistanis have been on British TV quite a lot lately, though that is primarily because of certain allegations aginst their cricket team. Oh and the floods in their home country.
 
You could pose the question for any minority group in the UK; but the fact is television cannot be expected to accurately portray every single ethnic group to the nearest % of the population, otherwise it just becomes tokenism.

I'd rather watch a TV drama for the storyline instead of drawing up a pie chart of the ethnic diversity ratio.
 
Do the numbers really matter?

If you have a great actor like Benedict Wong on a show what difference does it make that he is Chinese or the only Chinese actor in it? If he had his brother on with him would it make it twice as good?

Two Wongs don't make it right.

:o

I'll get me coat......
 
I don't think it matters a good actor is a good actor no matter where he/she come's from in saying that why are they no Portuguese actors on UK TV.

A 2001 census show's

13,000 Brazilians registered
36,405 Potuguese
the total number of Britons of Portuguese origin is estimated at over 500,000

The above figures don't include other Portuguese speaking regions or countries.

The same could be said for any nationality who has made the UK their home.
 
I had no idea about Portuguese people in the UK, interesting post.

I think we're a culture of outward appearances though. Diversity to us means diversity of appearance.
 
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