Lady Danbury of Bridgerton: The costume drama’s all-white cast is gone forever
- Adjoa Andoh predicts that the Bridgerton effect will see all white characters in the past
- She said there is a growing realization that people of color have played a huge role in history
It was the hit TV series that reimagined Regency-era England as an equal country when it came to racing – and now Bridgerton star Adjoa Andoh has predicted its influence will mean that historical dramas featuring an all-white cast could be a thing of the past.
The star, known to global audiences as The Wasp Lady Danbury, said there was a growing realization that people of color played a larger role in British history than previously thought.
She said, “This genie is out of the bottle.”
“I don’t think we’d be casting historical pieces with all-white molds unless there was a reason to do so, perhaps if the production was set up somewhere like Iceland in 5000 BC. But even then I think there would have been some brave traveler from abroad selling scientific instruments or cloths.
Bridgerton, which launched on Netflix in 2020, features a racially diverse cast and changed the way viewers see dramas.
Acting past: Adjoa Andoh and Simone Ashley in the TV series Bridgerton
Andoh, 60, previously said she doesn’t play Lady Danbury as a “fake white person,” adding, “I am the color that I am — and I play that.”
The famous Shakespearean actress said it was important to have an accurate representation of a nation’s past.
“The point is that, historically, we’ve rooted out all the people of color who were part of this nation, especially in urban areas,” she said.
It is a matter of restoring historical accuracy to the centuries-old presence of people of color in this country. There is an idea that Othello was based on a black tailor that Shakespeare may have used in the 1500’s.
Andoh’s words echo those of actor Ashley Thomas, who defended the BBC’s new adaptation of Great Expectations against claims that he “woke up” the diverse cast.
The star, who plays devious lawyer Jaggers, told The Times: ‘London at the time was a melting pot of cultures. You had people from Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, before the Windrush era. It is important that the offerings represent this. I don’t think it’s about “getting up”, it’s about time accuracy.
Andoh, 60, previously said she doesn’t play Lady Danbury as a “fake white person,” adding: “I am the color that I am — and I play that.”
Andoh stars as Richard III at the Liverpool Theatre, but has not followed recent trends in changing the sex of the evil king.
She plays it with her western accent and said that as a black girl growing up in the Cotswolds, she recognized the alienation felt by the disfigured king.
“I read it in a child-centered way,” she said. It resonated, the lived experience of it. It’s a really basic idea, the “it’s not fair” idea. It doesn’t matter what the bias is. It is what he does to the human spirit.
