Did Rowan Atkinson defend discrimination under the guise of creative freedom?

[alp227]

The Guardian has this article "Rowan Atkinson: BBC should have been allowed to drop Miriam O'Reilly":

The BBC should have been free to drop Miriam O'Reilly from Countryfile without attracting any accusations of age discrimination, according to comedian Rowan Atkinson, in a controversial intervention into the debate about the lack of older women on television.

(...)

In January 2011, O'Reilly won a landmark age discrimination case against the BBC after she was one of four women in their 40s or 50s who were dropped from a peaktime revamp of BBC1's Countryfile.

(...)

Atkinson said O'Reily's complaint was no more sensible than "Pierce Brosnan complaining that he was sacked from the role of James Bond for being too old" and that true creative freedom for both Bond films and Countryfile could only mean that producers should have complete artistic latitude.

"If either at the outset of a TV programme, or at any time during its screen life, you want to replace an old person with a young person, or a white person with a black person, or a disabled straight with an able-bodied gay, you should have as much creative freedom to do so as you have to change the colour of John Craven's anorak," Atkinson wrote.

This sounds like passive-aggressive concern trolling doesn't it?

[dmallind]

1. Part of the job, if not most of the job

of an actor or on air personality or entertainer of most kinds is to portray the correct image and appeal to the audience. Just like I cannot play Miss Marple no matter how well I can demonstrate prim inquisitiveness, neither can a Miss Marple lookalike expect to keep a role intended to serve as eyecandy for 25-34 yr olds no matter how trim they keep themselves.

[Enrique]

13. except this is a news program

until someone clarified that below, I thought this was ridiculous, I thought it was about people playing fictional roles, but it's not.

[dmallind]

16. More of general current events really, but in either event a show seeking an image

The cute and well-coutured readers on almost all news shows are not always the most highly qualified journalists or even most polished speakers either. But dammit most of them look good in a suit/two-piece.

[msongs]

2. what's next, models in advertising that look like 95% of the population? nt

[haele]

3. Depends on what BBC1's Countryfile is -

If it's a news show, or the person was working as part of the production crew then there could be a claim for discrimination.
But even news and info-tainment shows cycle through their feature reporters and script-readers, depending on what the focus of that show's segment is geared to evoke.

If the role or expectations of the target audience call for someone who looks to be an active person between 25 and 30 years old, unless the person is like Physicist Brian Cox, (who looks like he might just be 25 at the age of 45), that expectation of that particular look is part of the job qualification and an older looking actor or actress might be passed over for the job.

Would Sir Richard Attenbourough be a good host for an Extreme MMA Cage Match series? I'm sure he could do a great job at it, but he's probably not the best fit.

Rowan Atkinson should know; his distinctive, quirky looks has probably kept him from being considered for major roles he could have been very well qualified for over the years.

Haele

[Ebadlun]

5. I'd pay to watch

Sir Richard Attenbourough as host for an Extreme MMA Cage Match series. It sounds brilliant.

[JVS]

6. Same here! We should also get him to do Monday Night Football.

[Ebadlun]

15. I forgot to point out

that our dinosaur-resurrector-in-chief is actually Lord Attenborough.

It's his loser brother David that is only Sir, but every family has its black sheep.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

4. I know nothing about the show and would need context, but he has a point about Bond.....

......personally I never felt Brosnan was getting too old considering he still looks young compared to Roger Moore's final years.

[Dead_Parrot]

7. For those asking what Countryfile is...

...it's a rural current affairs program. Originally targeted at farmers and the like (Looks like it'll dry for harvest, cost of oats has gone up, now over to Bob who's test driving a new tractor), the beeb have noticed that non-corporate farmers are a dying breed, so they've shifted focus to anyone who goes outside - hikers, fishermen, doggers and the like.

As part of that, they're trying to sex-up the presenters - out with the tweed, in with the gore-tex - and evidently decided Miriam was a bit too tweedy.

[dmallind]

8. I wonder what definition of dogger you had in mind....;) nt

[Dead_Parrot]

14. yes, that one

[maximusveritas]

9. Well, it's questionable if a current affairs program can be compared to James Bond

You would need to have evidence that younger presenters attract bigger audiences for a show like that and I don't think that evidence exists.

[hughee99]

10. I'd guess there's probably some evidence to suggest that if you replace someone

with a more attractive girl, ratings will improve, regardless of the kind of show. My friend was commenting recently how he always watches a particular channel's news because of their weather girl. I asked him about it, and he says the news is all the same on the local channels, so he watches the one with the best looking women.

[maximusveritas]

11. But there will be people for whom the show will lose credibility

if they are obviously just putting an attractive women on there for that reason and not because they are knowledgeable or competent. This is how I feel when I see all the news models on Fox News.

[hughee99]

12. It's probably easier to lose credibility for a direct news show,

than for what seems to be more of a "lifestyle" show like the one described here. When your discussing something in a series of taped segments, it's easier to get almost anyone to come off as competent.