All-whites row at Midsomer Murders scenes – TV for the BNP?

THE PRODUCER of the long-running ITV detective series Midsomer Murders has been suspended after he told the Radio Times that the show's appeal is an all-white cast with no ethnic minorities, saying:

We're the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way.

Jason Hughes and John Nettles in Midsomer Murders

Midsomer Murders is set in a rural area of the south of England. The series returns this week with a new star, Neil Dudgeon, who has joined the cast as DCI John Barnaby, replacing actor John Nettles (DCI Tom Barnaby) as the central character.

But now producer Brian True-May has now been suspended by production company All3Media pending an internal investigation into his controversial view of an England that would delight the racist British National Party.

True-May told the Radio Times that the series “wouldn't work” if there was any racial diversity in the village life.

He added:

We just don't have ethnic minorities involved. Because it wouldn't be the English village with them. It just wouldn't work.

Suddenly we might be in Slough. Ironically, Causton (one of the main centres of population in the show) is supposed to be Slough. And if you went into Slough you wouldn't see a white face there.

We're the last bastion of Englishness and I want to keep it that way.

An ITV spokesperson responded:

We are shocked and appalled at these personal comments by Brian True-May which are absolutely not shared by anyone at ITV.

We are in urgent discussions with All3Media, the producer of Midsomer Murders, who have informed us that they have launched an immediate investigation into the matter and have suspended Mr True-May pending the outcome.

True-May has also banned swearing, violence and sex scenes from the show but he does include other real world issues apart from race.

If it's incest, blackmail, lesbianism, homosexuality . . . terrific, put it in, because people can believe that people can murder for any of those reasons.

Actor Jason Hughes, who plays Detective Sergeant Ben Jones in the all-white murder mystery, said:

I don't think that we would all suddenly go, 'A black gardener in Midsomer? You can't have that!' I think we'd all go, 'Great, fantastic!'