Actress Rachel Adedeji has forced production company Lime Pictures to promise to “stamp out implicit bias” after raising questions about the treatment of black cast members on Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.
Making a statement on Tuesday, Lime said it was “deeply shocked and saddened” by the issues raised by Adedeji and others in recent days, adding: “Lime Pictures strives to have zero tolerance of racism or any form of discrimination across all of its shows but it is clear we have further work to do.”
Lime said it is investigating the claims and it has now drawn up an action plan to tackle the questions raised. The action plan would include: speaking to individual cast and crew to address their specific concerns and requesting that staff come forward with other concerns or “instances of unacceptable behaviour”. It will work with unconscious bias trainers and pledges that all BAME staff and freelancers will be offered mentoring from Lime’s senior management and plans to review writer and director schemes to boost diversity.
This comes from after a very disturbing tweet over the weekend from Adedeji, highlighting that female black actors were “forced to drastically change their hair” for fear that viewers “would not be able to tell them apart.” She said since being on the show for four year she had only worked with one black director on the show.
“Working at Hollyoaks is mostly positive, but the experiences I have encountered are a constant reminder of how difficult it is being a black woman in the industry,” she said.
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