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TV DRAMA WAS A WHITEWASH Lack of racial diversity in BBC’s The Moorside, say critics banner walk through Dewsbury. Former Dewsbury West councillors Karam Hussain and Naz Hussain were also at the front of the march. Coun Hussain added: “When we were holding the banner and walking with the banner, they must have had all this footage, they must have known.” Fellow Dewsbury West councillor Darren O’Donovan, who lived nearby and was present for the events of February and March, 2008, was also critical. “When I witnessed what was going on there, there were a number of different communities involved in that search for Shannon
LOCAL councillors have hit out at the lack of racial diversity shown in the Shannon Matthews kidnap drama, The Moorside. The second part of the BBC drama, which starred BAFTA-winner Sheridan Smith, aired on Tuesday night, portraying the investigation which led to Karen Matthews and Michael Donovan both being sentenced to eight years in prison. Large numbers of the district’s Asian population were involved in different ways in the 24-day search for nine-year-old Shannon. However, The Moorside’s cast was made up almost entirely of white actors. Dewsbury West councillor Mumtaz Hussain, who was involved in the search in 2008, thought there should have been more Asian
Continued on Page 4 The search for Shannon in 2008. ... British Asian people were associated with the community campaign actors in the two-part programme. “The Asian community played a big part and a lot of Asian people were working in this group,” he said.
“But when they showed the drama there were hardly any Asian people in it. They could have made it more diverse. “At the end of the day, with the
information the BBC have, they never contacted me.” Coun Hussain was pictured in a number of well-publicised images of the search, including the iconic
■ More of your reaction to The Moorside p4 ■ More stories surface surrounding Karen Matthews and co p4 ■ Ed Lines: I lost the plot with courtroom farce p6
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