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cUlTUrE – TElEVISIoN A momENT IN HISTory

TV for All: HoW cHANNEl 4 they can deliver something in six weeks. T eugenics, in vogue from THE loNE lIbErTArIAN –
he pseudo-science of
In such circumstances, they turn to those
AImS To rEflEcT THE rEAl SocIETy they already know which perpetuates the late 19th to the mid-20th JoSIAH WEDgWooD AND
WE lIVE IN existing imbalances of representation. century, was influential in THE mENTAl DEfIcIENcy AcT 1913
many Western countries.
Those on the outside are unable to get
in, leading to a mistaken perception that But Britain was the only
Ramy El-Bergamy’s job is to make Channel 4’s programmes there are few talented disabled people country in the world to Josiah Wedgwood fought a one man battle against the Act
reflect the true diversity of our society. In an exclusive interview out there. enact national eugenics-based that still influences thinking today. Simon Jarrett looks at
with Community Living, he explains to Simon Jarrett what legislation, the Mental the beliefs behind it.
that means. To counter this, the diversity team are Deficiency Act of 1913.
trying to build relations and connections
between producers and disabled actors The Act set up a system of government and the 42 Labour MPs (the amendments and made 150 speeches.
nsconced in Channel 4’s during the quieter times, rather than unprecedented social and medical party was only 13 years old at this time) He accepted that some of those deemed
E futuristic London having to undertake desperate control for those deemed to be it represented another step in an deficient might need specialist
headquarters Channel 4’s and often futile searches when a ‘mentally deficient’. Under the Act, advancing programme of welfare reform institutional care, but if this Act was,
On-screen Diversity commissioner is screaming down the the deficient would either be committed which placed in the hands of the state as the government claimed, about
Executive Ramy El-Bergamy phone for a deadline to be met. to a rural ‘colony’ where they would that which had previously been left to their protection, then why could that
has a big job on his hands. It was in this way that Richard Hayhow live out their days under medical charitable groups. For the Conservative care not be voluntary rather
He has to ensure that the of Open Theatre Company was supervision, or would be closely opposition, eugenic anxiety trumped than compulsory?
Channel’s ‘360° Diversity able to identify the acting talent for supervised in the community, to ensure any concerns about state interference.
Charter’ will translate into No Offence and then work with them they did not have children, All three parties were united in their His opposition was doomed – such was
a real change on-screen. on-set to ensure a successful production. become belief that the the consensus that the Act was a good
Ramy El-Bergamy: If you are a involved in degenerate thing that one person’s objections
In every aspect of the Channel’s output learning disabled person on television, The second threat, as El-Bergamy sees crime or Sustaining himself population had to be were never going to prevail.
– drama, documentaries, reality pro- you shouldn’t have to be an ‘issue’. it, is simple prejudice or, to put it more engage in with sweet drinks ‘dealt with’ in However, he was able to highlight the
grammes and game shows – we should kindly, unconscious pre-judgement. ‘immoral’ and chocolate, Wedgwood some way. controversies that the Act brought to
be able to see a range of people who No Offence and Undateables. Disabled actors are seen as activities. sat through two treatment of the ‘defective’ population,
reflect the society we live in, rather than Both risked controversy, Undateables representatives of all disabled actors. The Act was late-night parliamentary One man and he made life extremely
just one part of it. This means that not through its title and No Offence through If a programme featuring them flops, not repealed sittings, tabled 120 opposition uncomfortable for the government,
only should we be seeing the whole its plotline, which involved a serial-killer it is seen as a sign that programmes until the amendments and made It was left to one man who had expected an easy passage.
spectrum of ethnic and gender diversity, who was stalking women with Down’s involving disabled actors don’t work. Mental Health 150 speeches to lead the isolated
but also the full range of disability and syndrome. Its cast of actors with Down’s It is not considered that the programme Act of 1959 opposition to this Human rights,
impairment, that we know is out there. syndrome took on roles that challenged itself, or the actor, may not have been and has there- major, and deeply not disability rights
There should be no excuses – why on stereo-types, including male prostitutes very good. No Offence was a risk but fore always loomed large in both public transformative, piece of legislation. It was interesting that Wedgwood had
earth should a television channel not re- and characters who drank and swore then a success – what would have and professional thinking. It remains He was Josiah Wedgwood, a Liberal no apparent experience of, or even
flect the audiences it’s broadcasting to? just as much as, if not more than, the happened to the perception of learning influential in discussions about people MP and self-styled ‘last of the radicals’. interest in, deficiency himself. For him
police they became involved with. disabled actors, El-Bergamy ponders, with learning disabilities even today. Wedgwood was a direct descendant of this was a matter of individual liberty.
Making the Charter a reality Both largely won over their critics, if the programme had flopped? his namesake, the18th century founder In our modern terminology he was not
El-Bergamy came to Channel 4 in drawing huge audiences. No Offence is Disabled actors have to work twice as Eugenics was based on the belief that of the famous pottery manufacturers in a disability activist, or advocate, but a
2015 with a ten-year broadcasting now showing in France to audiences of hard to be considered half as good and criminality, immorality, alcoholism, Staffordshire, that bears the human rights campaigner.
background, having worked on over five million. carry the weight of thousands of anti-social behaviour, physical Wedgwood name to this day.
programmes such as Big Brother, hopefuls on their shoulders. defect and low intelligence were all Sources
The Voice and Geordie Shore. This isn’t worthy television, it’s highly linked, and stemmed from ‘defective Wedgwood’s opposition was based Mark Thompson, The problem of
With his colleague Nina Bhagwat, successful commercial television, Simple insight breeding’ amongst the lower classes. not on a specific commitment to, mental deficiency: Eugenics,
the Off-Screen Diversity Executive, and that is a point El- Bergamy is keen El-Bergamy offers a simple insight. Only control and restriction of lower or even interest in, those labelled democracy and social policy
the brief is to make the Charter a to make. Those who damn all of this If you are a learning-disabled person on class breeding, and the encouragement mentally deficient, but on his fierce in Britain, c. 1870-1959, Clarendon
reality. For El-Bergamy this is about as tokenism or political correctness, he television, you shouldn’t have to be an of breeding amongst the finer commitment to the ideas of liberty and press, Oxford, 1998
ensuring that what we see on-screen points out, are often those middle-class ‘issue’. You can be in a story, just like specimens of the middle and upper democratic accountability. All citizens C. V. Wedgwood, ‘Wedgwood,
changes. For Bhagwat it involves white males who have most to lose from you can be in real life, simply because classes, could prevent Britain from had rights, whoever they were and Josiah Clement, first Baron Wedgwood
working closely with independent increased diversity on-screen and else- you are there – you don’t have to spiralling into a nightmare society whatever label was attached to them. (1872–1943)’, rev. Mark Pottle, Oxford
and in-house producers to improve where. The audiences, he insists, never symbolise something, or be a plot populated by the brute-like, deformed They could not just be summarily Dictionary of National Biography,
their organisational diversity. have a problem. The viewing figures device to show how wonderful or offspring of the immoral lower classes. dismissed from society or closely Oxford University Press, 2004; online
For example,10 per cent of the show that whenever diversity becomes a terrible other people are. You shouldn’t While this may appear absurd today, controlled within it simply because they edn, May 2009 [http://www.ox-
approximate 300 production team for feature of a programme, so long as it’s be expected to add something weighty it was believed to be ‘scientific’ and did not meet with approval. He saw the forddnb.com/view/article/36812]
the Rio Paralympics will be people with good viewing in its own right, audiences to the narrative. You can be on the was widely accepted across the Act as a tool for giving power to illiberal
disabilities – a specific commissioning respond by watching in their millions. television just being who you are. political spectrum. Both left and right groups such as the Eugenics Society, See comment, page 1, What can we
demand by Channel 4. wing politicians believed that the and as a threat to democracy. learn from Josiah Wedgwood?
Threats to diversity Channel 4 should be commended for ‘respectable’ working class should be
What chances of success for El-Bergamy sees two threats to its bold initiative, and Ramy El-Bergamy supported over the ‘disreputable’ poor. In parliament, as the Act was If you would like to
El- Bergamy, and what about the diversity that have to be tackled. for the energy and drive with which he debated, Wedgwood led the contribute to
minority that often gets missed out even The first is structural. TV production is is tackling it. It will be a great day when Unanimous support opposition to it virtually single-handed. ‘A Moment in History’,
by other minorities – people with a small, demanding world with quick a learning disabled actor wanders on When the Act was introduced to Sustaining himself with sweet drinks and please contact
learning disabilities? He points to recent turnarounds. Independent production to our screens, and none of us feels the parliament in 1913 it enjoyed almost chocolate, he sat through two late-night Simon Jarrett
successes such as Paul Abbot’s companies will get a call asking them if need to comment. unanimous support. For the Liberal parliamentary sittings, tabled 120 simonj@jarr.demon.co.uk

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