Auntie's latest bloomer

According to a story in The Stage, at a recent Equity conference on diversity, a representative from BBC Drama said they would, from now on, pledge to treat disabled actors equally in the auditioning and casting process.

And not before time, says an exasperated Mat Fraser (right), who told Disability Now: “I’ve been going to events like this and hearing the same thing for the past 11 years.” And things, he says, haven't got that much better. "If you want me to give you it in percentage terms, I’d say things are 10 per cent better now than they were 10 years ago.”

Jonathan Keble, who's done a lot of radio drama and is shortly to return as rapist Garreth Taylor in Radio 4’s The Archers, said he’d always found it difficult to get work in television. “I went up for a part as a solicitor and didn't get it, because they didn't think a disabled solicitor would be right. That’s ridiculous; there are loads of disabled solicitors in real life. Casting should reflect that.”

And Francesca Martinez also says that previous fine words have buttered no parsnips. “For too long I’ve sat in meetings with them and said, ‘It’s your duty. All your hours of output over a year, and you haven't got one disabled person on there. That’s shocking.’”

What seems truly shocking is that with an entire unit devoted to creating and implementing diversity policies, and with an executive for diversity as part of the divisional management for BBC TV, they’re still having to pledge that, only now, will they start treating disabled actors equally.