An utter disgrace (From Oxford Mail)

An utter disgrace

2:21pm Wednesday 20th May 2009

• Print
• Email
• Comments(0)

I vaguely watched that television two-parter those other evenings on Channel Four: 1066: The Battle for Middle Earth, about battles that took place that year between the inhabitants of these islands and invading Vikings and Normans.

Apparently,the Normans were pretty beastly, probably breathing garlic all over the noble Saxons, Celts and Iberians.

It was slightly wearisome that all the actors playing Saxons had attended the Wurzels' School of Elocution, but I suppose that as Westcountry accents and dialect are supposedly a result of the way the West saxons actually spoke, rather than a bastardised version of Received Pronounciation, that was more or less acceptable.

Other than that though, the programme was a disgrace. It was, literally, a whitewash. Where were all the black and Asian faces? It utterly failed to reflect the multicultural and multiracial nature of mediaeval English society at that time.

At least the producers of the current series of Robin Hood on the BBC have done their research and made sure Robin's band of men has at least has one black face, in the form of Friar Tuck. Well done to them, I say.

Comments are closed on this article.