BBC Told to Avoid Token Characters and Preachy Storylines

Sunday, February 01, 2026

The BBC has been urged to rethink color-blind casting "tokenism" and "preachy" storylines about the UK's colonial history in scripted series, according to a major study commissioned by the broadcaster.

Posted by sentinel at 05:40 PM | 17 COMMENTS | permalink

Comments

Creative freedom? Ha! Any freedom? Double Ha!

#1 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-02-01 09:23 PM

People have been complaining about this since the BBC started doing it about ten years ago, as result of a new policy. They apparently didn't even care that stuff like this helped people like Trump get elected twice. It was only after they got sued and had to pony up for legal fees that they even bothered to look into it.

#2 | Posted by sentinel at 2026-02-02 08:07 AM

Oh, you're the ------- Dr.Who ------. Mea culpa, I forgot.

#3 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-02-02 06:13 PM

The BBC got PEDO DONNIE elected? Do tell...

#4 | Posted by LegallyYourDead at 2026-02-02 06:13 PM

#4 that whole discussion about the left moving left... The preachy story lines pushing overtly "further" not far left ideologies turns viewers and voters off. It's the hard to define but you know it when you see it example of the left moving left.

#5 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2026-02-03 01:24 PM

left ideologies turns viewers and voters off.

That's because it's Donald Trump and Fascism that turn you on.

Nothing anyone can do to help you with that.

It's the hard to define but you know it when you see it example of the left moving left.
#5 | POSTED BY KWRX25

Hey dummy, remember last time you were asked to provide an example of the left moving further to the left and you had nothing.

You still don't.

All you got is transphobia.

Ignorance and hate makes you quite the Deplorable Trumping MAGAt.

Keep being special.

#6 | Posted by ClownShack at 2026-02-03 01:29 PM

I'm putting a big ------- spotlight on this as one of this examples, keep being special.

You think these examples have to big glaring examples. They don't. If everytime someone tries to watch a show or movie and they are being preached to... you get Trump. You don't want to believe that the majority of people can be that fickle, but it's true. So instead you lash out at the messenger.

and for the 10,001th time, didn't vote trump and I don't agree with Maga either. I know that's a wild concept for your binary brain to fathom.

Hilarious how something blatant like men and women is a spectrum to you, but the vastness of politics IS a binary to you. ------- amazing.

#7 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2026-02-03 01:55 PM

If everytime someone tries to watch a show or movie and they are being preached to...

People like you have been around forever.

Complaining that every time they watched television, went to sporting events, or clubs they were forced to watch ni**ers.

Here you are, spouting the same hateful rhetoric.

I'd rather fight to live in a nation where we're all free.

You feel like the LGBTQ, especially the Ts, should disappear forever.

You're garbage.

A deplorable human being.

#8 | Posted by ClownShack at 2026-02-03 02:14 PM

I don't agree with Maga

Of course you do.

Being a decent human being is a bridge too far for you and you'll make sure democrats are punished for expecting you to be.

#9 | Posted by ClownShack at 2026-02-03 02:16 PM

It's the hard to define but you know it when you see it example of the left moving left.
#5 | POSTED BY KWRX25

I see what you're saying but I think there's a little more going on here

This is corporate suits trying to check off an "inclusion" checkbox but doing it so poorly that it feels phony.

Inclusion just for the sake of inclusion is a simulacrum of the left. It comes off as forced. And that's not what the left is hoping for when it comes to inclusion.

Like if you were to take the 80s Superman movie, and remake it scene for scene but with a black actor doing the role of Christopher Reeves, it would come of as completely phony. Because a black Superman adds a racial component which simply isn't part of the original story. Leaving that aspect unaddressed would have audience members asking "Why'd they make him black if it doesn't change anything? That's just tokenism." I'm a leftist and I would say that.

#10 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-02-03 02:36 PM

#10 Thanks Snoofy for seeing what I was saying there.

#11 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2026-02-03 03:21 PM

Like if you were to take the 80s Superman movie, and remake it scene for scene but with a black actor

Looks like the Black Little Mermaid really ------ you up.

Guess you'll have to vote for Trump.

#12 | Posted by ClownShack at 2026-02-03 03:29 PM

OR... hear me out, I didn't really care about the little mermaid. I would have rather seen a new and original story with a black actress... maybe an alternate story, about a different mermaid that happened close in the timeline as Ariels story. But it didn't push me to Trump. Nothing did, I didn't vote for him. Both times.

The title of this article could easily apply to Starfleet. That show is taking a lot of heat. A good portion of the criticism is not necessary as the franchise is bound to evolve. However, I will say that in totality they have too many boxes checked. Its no longer representation when it feels like every character is there to show some form of representation and comes across as forced and unrealistic. Now the argument becomes Trek has always been progessive. And it has. But I heard it said that TOS made you think, and this Trek tells you how to think.

I think that is a great way looking at this whole issue. When inclusion makes you think, and moves things forward that is amazing and excellent. When the inclusion is ham fisted, and tells you how to think it turns people away. It blows back right or wrong on the left, and pushes moderates away from the party.

Like it or not, disagree if you will... but this is how it works.

#13 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2026-02-03 04:05 PM

"But I heard it said that TOS made you think, and this Trek tells you how to think."

But nobody ever asked questions of TOS like:
Why is the captain a white man.
Why is every main character a man except for one black woman.
Why are the minor women roles like Yeoman Rand obviously just eye candy.

It's the things it didn't make you think about that the next wave of Star Trek began to address. Sisko, black captain. Janeway, woman captain.

Chakotay is an example of forced inclusion and a character that came off as completely contrived and, plot-wise and ancestry wise, simply ridiculous and bad.

Another thing that's completely unbelievable about the new Star Trek movies is the Captain and First Officer being about 23 years old.

That's another example of the checkbox mentality. Put young people in it do it will appeal to the younger generation.

Representation should be more than simply representation for the sake of representation.

#14 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-02-03 04:23 PM

'"Why'd they make him black if it doesn't change anything? That's just tokenism." I'm a leftist and I would say that.'

You're part of a minority on the left when it comes to that then. I've seen many argue "I don't care if it's clunky. Representation is more important, and if you complain that it's clunky then you're against representation."

#15 | Posted by sentinel at 2026-02-04 08:32 AM

Yeah, bad writing makes people watch something else. Believe me, TV EXECS don't care if something is "preachy", just the bottom line.

#16 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2026-02-04 08:38 AM

"TV EXECS don't care if something is "preachy", just the bottom line."

The difference with the BBC is that it's publicly funded. Also, there's a lot of stuff produced just to maintain "connections" and sometimes even money laundering in the entertainment industry.

#17 | Posted by sentinel at 2026-02-04 09:07 AM

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