Olivier-award-winning actress Sharon D Clarke has said she was “all over” Channel 5 series Ellis as she “didn’t grow up seeing someone like me in the lead role of a TV series”.
Clarke, 58, from north London, stars as the eponymous detective chief inspector in the drama – and this is her first time playing a lead role on TV.
Speaking to Radio Times, she said: “I can’t tell you why I’ve never been number one before.
“You’d have to ask the people who do the programming. I think it’s the idea that black doesn’t sell. Full stop.
“I haven’t been sitting around saying, ‘Why not me?’ It’s how life is. Everything in its time.”
She added: “I didn’t grow up seeing someone like me in the lead role of a TV series, so I was all over it.”
Clarke, who has appeared on TV shows including Doctor Who, Waking the Dead, and Mr Loverman, talked to co-creator and co-writer, Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre, about her character, Detective Chief Inspector Ellis.
“I wanted her to be from a multicultural place, so she’s from Tottenham, north London, which is where I grew up”, she said.
“She’s tough; she has worked her way up to the top despite the endemic racism in the force.
“I also had a long chat with Irene Afful, Merseyside Police’s first black female inspector, about her experiences.
“She told me that her colleagues wouldn’t let her lead on anything, and she was like, ‘I’m a black girl, I can take care of myself.’
“Two great detectives, both male, saw her potential and encouraged her to rise through the ranks.”
Reflecting on the racism she has faced in the acting industry, Clarke said, it “isn’t just an industry thing, it’s a daily thing. It’s how I live my life.”
She added: “I stopped auditioning for telly for a while because I didn’t want to play a nurse simply because I’m black.”
According to Radio Times, Clarke was offered roles as a nurse in various TV series before, finally, being cast as consultant Lola Griffins in the axed BBC soap, Holby City.
In 2017 Clarke was made an MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours list for her services to drama.
She won the Olivier award for best supporting actress in 2014 and picked up the best actress award in 2019 and 2020.
From next month, the theatre star will perform in a reimagined version of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest alongside Doctor Who actor Ncuti Gatwa at The National Theatre.
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