New ITV police drama sets out to tackle lack of diversity by choosing black actress Tala Gouveia to play the lead in McDonald & Dodds
ITV has tackled the row over lack of diversity on screen – by choosing a black actress for the lead role in its new detective drama.
Tala Gouveia plays an ambitious young police chief in McDonald & Dodds, with Jason Watkins as her modest middle-aged sidekick.
Watkins said the lead role was ‘purposely’ given to a black actress to reflect modern British society, insisting that it was ‘important’ to have a person of colour as the star.
The 53-year-old, who played Harold Wilson in The Crown, said programmes need to ‘reflect our society and the diverse people in it’.
Tala Gouveia plays an ambitious young police chief in McDonald & Dodds, with Jason Watkins as her modest middle-aged sidekick (pictured together)
The new drama follows the unlikely partnership between Watkins, as Detective Sergeant Dodds, and Miss Gouveia, as Detective Chief Inspector McDonald.
Watkins told the Daily Mail: ‘You’ve got a black female officer and this white guy – it’s a good thing, showing our society now in the format of a traditional programme.
‘It is purposely done [putting a black character in] and I think that it’s important.’
Watkins referred to the lack of diversity in Bafta and Oscar nominations – particularly in acting categories.
‘Coming back off the Oscars, we in this show have had an opportunity to join the debate,’ he said.
‘I’m a member of Bafta and we are very concerned about diversity but people need to make programmes that reflect our society and the body of diverse people in it.
‘Colour-blind casting – we are making a gesture towards it and that’s deliberate.’ Watkins called for more diversity in series, adding: ‘You have to take risks but if you make something good people will watch.’
Watkins said the lead role was ‘purposely’ given to a black actress to reflect modern British society, insisting that it was ‘important’ to have a person of colour as the star
Miss Gouveia, whose best-known role was in Cold Feet, said she was drawn to the part because it was not what she had grown up with.
‘[McDonald] is a great female lead and as a young woman of colour, is the boss of a middle-aged white man,’ she said.
‘That’s partly what drew me towards it. It’s a little bit different and not necessarily the representation I have seen growing up or watching detective shows.’
The drama is set in Bath with guest stars including Robert Lindsay, Ellie Kendrick, Hugh Dennis, Freddie Fox and Michele Dotrice.
The first of two feature-length episodes airs on ITV on March 1.