The Wire star Clarke Peters on colourblind casting: ‘I’m just not up for making Winston Churchill black or Indian’

Actor said race matters when making historical films and TV shows

The Wire star Clarke Peters has weighed in on the debate around colourblind casting, saying: “I’m just not up for, you know, making Winston Churchill black or Indian or whatever.”

Peters, who starred as detective Lester Freamon in The Wire and will next appear in His Dark Materials, suggested that casting actors who are a different race from their character can be an issue when making historical films and TV shows.

He told The Times that while the race of an actor “doesn’t matter” in Philip Pullman’s fantasy series, “it would matter if we were using a point in history”.

Clarke added: “I’m just not up for, you know, making Winston Churchill black or Indian or whatever, but in this world everybody gets to work.”

Colourblind casting has been a recent topic of debate in the industry following black actors playing Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Dev Patel taking the title role in The Personal History of David Copperfield, a move which was described as "landmark" given the actor's Indian heritage and the fact the role has typically been played by white stars.

Clarke is playing the master of Jordan College in the new adaptation of Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.

The series also stars Ruth Wilson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, James McAvoy, David Suchet and James Cosmo.

His Dark Materials will premiere on BBC1 on 3 November 2019.