BBC's creative diversity chief Miranda Wayland reportedly told a conference Idris Elba's lead character in Luther 'doesn’t feel authentic' because he 'doesn't have any Black friends' or 'eat any Caribbean food'
Updated: April 14, 2021, 2:56 pm
Idris Elba (Matt Crossick/PA)
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The creative diversity chief of the BBC has suggested the TV series Luther “doesn’t feel authentic” because the lead character has few black friends and does not eat Caribbean food.
Idris Elba, 48, stars as haunted rogue detective DCI John Luther in the critically acclaimed police drama, which has run for five series since 2010 on BBC One.
BBC under fire after diversity chief says Luther isn t black enough My dad was born in Jamaica and he hates Caribbean food and spicy food - does this me he s not Jamaican enough?
Idris played the lead character DCI John Luther (Image: BBC)
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The BBC’s diversity chief has claimed Idris Elba’s TV detective Luther ‘isn’t black enough to be real’ because ‘he doesn’t have any black friends and doesn’t eat any Caribbean food’.
Miranda Wayland said the hit crime drama, which won plaudits for having a strong, black lead character, was only superficially diverse and that corporation bosses are now looking to portray minority groups in a more convincing and rounded way…
She said: ‘When [Luther] first came out everybody loved the fact that Idris Elba was in there a really strong, black character lead.
‘We all fell in love with him. Who didn’t, right? But after you got into about the second series you got kind of like, OK, he doesn’t have any black friends, he doesn’t eat any Caribbean food, this doesn’t feel authentic.’