BBC comedy exec Lumsden says scripts by black and Asian writers are in the minority

Published Tuesday 11 March 2008 at 16:10 by Matthew Hemley

BBC comedy executive Lucy Lumsden has fuelled the debate about the lack of black and ethnic minorities working in the industry, claiming the majority of sitcom ideas she receives are “white male-led”.

Speaking to The Stage the controller of comedy commissioning said out of 287 scripts that came to her over a nine-month period, only a “small proportion” came from black and Asian writers.

She said the BBC needed to “keep encouraging” comedy submissions from ethnic groups and urged independent production companies to come forward with more ideas from a cross-section of writers.

Her comments emerge just a few weeks after Extras producer Charlie Hanson hit out at the BBC for failing to nurture black and Asian talent in its in-house comedy department and comedian Lenny Henry said there were not enough black faces on screen or behind the camera.

Lumsden said: “The majority of all our ideas are male-led, single camera shows and they are usually white male-led. It is still a very white male industry and white males tend to write about their own lives. Just as it is difficult for women to break through into comedy because they feel it is not their domain, I am sure it is incredibly difficult for black and Asian writers. But if you have a show that speaks to them, suddenly that changes that. They then feel it is a show they can contribute to and not that they are working within this white male world.”

One show that Lumsden said would speak to black writers is the new BBC3 sitcom Trexx and Flipside, created by comedian Zeron Gibson.

Lumsden said the new show was being made by Hanrahan Media, which had held a large audition process aimed at finding a variety of black writers to work on the production.

However, Lumsden warned that by targeting specific ethnic groups, there was a danger of putting them “into a box”.

“I am trying to say there are lots of opportunities on all our comedies across all channels, and independent producers should be on the hunt for diversity in our writers,” she added.