1950s – 1960s: Pioneers
The 1950s were significant in television history, particularly for the first on-screen portrayals of African and Caribbean people on UK television. Racial representation was still rare. Yet, the arrival of the Windrush generation in 1948, predominantly people from Jamaica, Bermuda, Grenada, St Lucia, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago, meant the beginnings of seeing Caribbean people and their stories on screen. The influence of the Windrush generation and their following generations changed the fabric of British television and other creative industries, despite facing racist social and political barriers.
The 1948 Nationality Act also granted British citizenship to people in the colonies, leading to migration to the UK. The end of World War Two resulted in the British government encouraging mass immigration from the British Empire Territories and the Commonwealth to fill labour shortages. This period saw a rise of far-right violence, fascism and racism, including the racist riots in Notting Hill in 1958. There were other anti-African and Caribbean, racist riots across the UK in 1958.
One of the first on-screen interracial kisses in 1959 featured Lloyd Reckord in the televised play, ‘Hot Summer Nights’, and was adapted into a film featuring Earl Cameron. This was partly inspired by the 1958 Notting Hill riots.
Although many people assume that the 1950s marked the first appearance of African Caribbean people on British television, Josephine Baker had in fact appeared on the very first day of British television transmission in October 1933 (Sarita Malik 2002). Robert Adams, A Guyanese actor, was also one of the early African Caribbean appearances on British TV in the BBC’s Theatre Parade in 1937, and Pauline Henriques was on television in 1946. Cyril Grant, an acclaimed actor, became the first African Caribbean person to appear regularly on British television, performing music on the Tonight Show on the BBC. However, television during this era was still deeply racist, as evidenced by the popularity of shows like the 1958 ‘Black and White Minstrel Show,' which continued to air until it was banned in 1978, despite calls for cancellation from 1967, particularly from the Campaign Against Racial Discrimination in media.
Theatre was also a huge part of the creative industry in the 1950s. Many African Caribbean writers started in theatre and transitioned to television after the 1950s and 1960s. From 1956, the Edric Connor Agency played a pivotal role in securing rights for African Caribbean artists and in promoting their talents, helping many, including Nina Baden-Semper, Oscar James, Cy Grant, Lloyd Reckord, and Nadia Cattouse, to develop television careers.
There was widespread installation of television sets in the UK in the 1950s, after World War II. The arrival of ITV in 1955 enabled more opportunities for people of colour on screen. A notable example is ITV's first long-running series, Emergency – Ward 10 (ATV/ITV, 1956–67), a mainstream hospital drama that featured Thomas Baptiste and Joan Hooley. Another groundbreaking show for the time was A Man from the Sun (1959), a BBC docudrama about the experiences of Caribbean people who had immigrated to the UK.
By the end of the 1950s, on-screen appearances from African Caribbean people started to become more frequent due to the arrival of the Windrush generation in the UK. These scarce television opportunities were not without constraints, but signified the beginnings of Caribbean people starting to feature in, and influence, British television.
1960s
During the 1960s, African, African Caribbean and South Asian people were establishing a greater presence on screen. Due to the waves of South Asian immigration in the 1950s and 60s, the BBC started producing shows specifically for South Asian immigrants, such as Apna Hi Ghar Samajhiye (Make Yourself at Home), which began in October 1965. Another important show was Nai Zindagi Naya Jeevan (New Life), which aired from 1968 to 1982. These shows focused on integration and learning English; they were very assimilationist in nature. Many television shows were still deeply racist, relied on stereotypes and perpetuated the idea that if you were not white, you were a threat. In 1964, in Emergency Ward 10, Joanne Hooley’s character has a romance with a white doctor. Their onscreen kiss was treated as controversial and became a news headline; her character was subsequently written off.
The period also saw the rise of the Caribbean Artists Movement, the production of single televised plays, and notable milestones such as the 1967 series Rainbow City and Thomas Baptiste's 1963 appearance in Coronation Street. The Big Pride (1961) was created by the Guyanese writer Jan Carew and his wife Sylvia Wynter. A significant turning point for racial representation on screen was in 1968, when Barbara Blake-Hannah became the first African Caribbean female news reporter on British Television. Hannah was dismissed due to racist complaints. The year 1968 also saw Enoch Powell’s racist ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech, which emboldened racism in the UK.
At the same time, the Black Power Movement was gaining prominence in the UK, and events from the American Civil Rights Movement were shown on British news.
African Caribbean radical organisations emerged during this time. Pearl and Edric Connor, John La Rose, and Nigerian playwright Obi Egbuna (who founded the Universal Coloured Peoples' Association in June 1967 and was later imprisoned in Britain) made significant efforts to create alternative creative spaces and gain recognition. The ‘Negro Theatre Workshop’ in 1961 was the first African Caribbean British Theatre company, set up by Pearl Mogotsi-Connor, Edric Connor, Lloyd Reckord, and many more. Some of the plays produced as part of the workshop were adapted and televised for the BBC. Many other prolific African Caribbean TV writers also started in theatre, such as Trix Worrell and Michael Abbensetts.
Despite ongoing racial hostility, by the end of the 1960s, there were slightly more African Caribbean and Asian people on British television screens, and the establishment of African Caribbean-led community theatre groups was widely significant.