Idris Just Wants More Diversity On TV

Idris Elba wants to see more diversity on Television…

*In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, British actor Idris Elba expressed a desire for TV in his country to stop talking about on-screen diversity and “just do it”: put more actors of color on the small screen.

“If you look at American television, it is nothing to see a cast that is multi-racial. So we shouldn’t shy away from demanding more diversity on British TV. Only because it reflects the culture we live in,” said the actor, best known for his character of Baltimore drug kingpin Stringer Bell on HBO’s “The Wire” and a guest-starring stint as a no-nonsense corporate VP on the NBC’s “The Office.”

Elba, pointed to his new project, the BBC crime series “Luther,” as an example of how diversity can be built into the scripts of British shows. The actor stars as a brilliant but dangerously violent London murder detective.

The actor, whose big screen credits include “Daddy’s Little Girls,” “American Gangster” and “Obsessed,” is also an associate producer on the project, which debuts this spring on BBC One.

“Diversity was one of the first things I asked about as a producer,” Elba said “How many other races are we going to see? Because it would be very odd if Luther was the only black person in the series … So we see many different ethnic groups on screen.

Source