A new BBC drama about the Battle of Hastings will feature a diverse group of actors – as historians question why ‘colour-blind’ casting has been applied to a period ‘when Britain was at its least multicultural’.
King and Conqueror, an eight-part series, will tell the story of Harold and William’s fight for the English throne, which culminated with the Battle of Hastings in 1066.
Jason Forbes and Elander Moore are among a diverse set of actors who have been cast as Anglo-Saxon characters, The Telegraph reports.
It is another period drama to follow the BBC’s colour-blind casting of non-white stars – which they have also done for the return of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.
King and Conqueror is a CBS Studios co-production acquired by the BBC. Last year, CBS Studios executive Lindsey Martin said the scripts would give a ‘bold and fresh take on a story that has endured for nearly 1,000 years’.
The BBC said the series would bring ‘Harold and William to life’, adding: ‘In the UK we learn about William the Conqueror, the Battle of Hastings and King Harold’s gruesome death in our school history lessons – but those headlines are all most of us can remember.’
Jason Forbes (left) and Elander Moore (right) are among a diverse set of actors who have been cast as Anglo-Saxon characters
The King and Conqueror will tell the story of the Battle of Hastings, depicted here on the Bayeux Tapestry
Colour-blind casting has drawn some criticism, with historian Dr Zareer Masani telling the Telegraph: ‘Some of us, including people of colour, grew up thinking actors ought to look like characters they played.’
He said it could be ‘hugely confusing and downright misleading’ adding that it was ‘absolutely crazy that they’ve applied this colour-blindness to a period when Britain was at its least multicultural, before even the Norman Conquest’.
The cast features Norton as Harold Godwinson and Coster-Waldau as William, Duke of Normandy, alongside co-stars Juliet Stevenson and Clemence Poesy.
Forbes and Moore will be playing Anglo-Saxons, with the former playing a fictional character Thane Thomas.
Moore, of Trinidadian descent, will star as the real historical figure of Morcar, an Early of Northumbria, who battled against Viking and Norman invaders before he was replaced by William after the Battle of Hastings. He later rebelled against William.
King and Conqueror follows in the footsteps of Netflix series Bridgerton which cast Adjoa Andoh as Lady Agatha Danbury in Regency-era England, while Channel 5’s 2021 series Anne Boleyn starred Jodie Turner-Smith.
It follows the news that Wolf Hall will return with a notably more diverse cast of actors portraying the Tudor nobles (pictured Kate Phillips as Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour and Cecilia Appiah, shown far right, as her sister-in-law Anne)
Jane Seymour’s sister-in-law Anne, whose character name has been changed to Nan for the series, is played by mixed-race British actress Cecilia Appiah (left), while Sarah Priddy, of Bahamian descent, plays their mother Lady Margery
The shift to show more diverse talent follows in the footsteps of Netflix series Bridgerton which cast Adjoa Andoh as Lady Agatha Danbury in Regency-era England (left), while Channel 5’s 2021 series Anne Boleyn starred Jodie Turner-Smith
And in April, it emerged that Wold Hall would feature a diverse cast to portray Tudor courtiers in 16th-century England.
Jane Seymour’s sister-in-law Anne, whose character name has been changed to Nan for the series, is played by mixed-race British actress Cecilia Appiah, while Sarah Priddy, of Bahamian descent, plays their mother Lady Margery.
Meanwhile Thomas Wyatt, a Tudor courtier and poet who introduced the sonnet to England, will be played by Amir El-Masry, an Egyptian-British actor.
The part was was played by Slow Horses star Jack Lowden in the 2015 series.