Primetime first as two black actors star in BBC1's Undercover | Media | The Guardian
http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/m ... ime-first-

It really is pathetic it took this long.

Hmmm... that's definitely not the first BBC series to star a non-white cast. There's not been many, to be fair, but there have been a couple. And there's also a demographic issue here - the people who migrated to the UK in the 50's and 60s' from Africa and the Caribbean were overwhelmingly tradesmen and women, in the main. Nothing as ethereal as an actor... Their children, by virtue of growing up here, had the opportunity to take up any profession they had the talent and opportunity to do and that generation broke the barriers down but there were few of them, so they are always going to be less common on TV. The generation after them - which Okonedo and Lester both belong to - is probably the first one which is experienced enough to be able to carry a series and numerous enough to beat the simple odds of an audition.

I wouldn't begin to say they didn't face prejudice on the road to where they are, sadly I think the probability is they did do. However prejudice is not all of the story and in some senses it's not taken 'this long', it's taken about as long as it made sense for it to take. If Sidney Poitier had been second generation UK immigrant we might have had a breakthrough sooner but there's very few actors of that calibre born in any generation, regardless of their skin colour.

I think the keyword is primetime, I certainly can't think of another British show lead by two black actors in that slot.

That's a pretty spurious distinction to be honest. Especially these days, 'primetime' doesn't have anywhere near the meaning it used to.

But I suppose if you want to make a news story out of something you have to find a way to make it sound extraordinary somehow.