'Downton Abbey' Casts Gary Carr as First Black Character

The London-born actor will portray jazz singer
Jack Ross in the fourth season of the hit period
drama series.
" Downton
Abbey " is
open to
diversity
its
upcoming
fourth
season.
The hit PBS
drama
series has added actor Gary Carr to the cast
ensemble to play the first black character on
the show, a jazz singer named Jack Ross.
"We are delighted to introduce another
fantastic, dynamic character to Downton
Abbey," says executive producer Gareth Neame
in a statement. "His addition will bring
interesting twists to the drama which we can't
wait for viewers to see."
London-born actor Carr, who has appeared on
TV series "Bluestone 42" and "Death in
Paradise", joins previously announced new cast
members, including Kiri Te Kanawa, Julian
Ovenden, Nigel Harman, Joanna David and
Harriet Walter. Tom Cullen is additionally cast
as Lady Mary's potential new love interest.
Series creator Julian Fellowes previously said it
would be "rather nice to open it up ethnically
a bit." He, however, pointed out, "You have to
work it in in a way that is historically
believable, but I am sure we could do that.
[The show] certainly ought to have an Indian
character from that period."
They apparently have found a way for it as
executive producer Gareth Neame told New
York Times on May 1, "A few people have said,
'Why isn't there more diversity?' And the
argument would be, we would depict it if were
true and accurate. It's a bit like saying, 'I don't
approve of the class system, at all, that existed
on the show.' It did exist, and we should
depict it in the way that existed. It doesn't
mean I approve of it. But Britain was not a
multicultural country in 1920."
"The aristocrats would certainly spend a lot of
their time in London, and would have been to
clubs and so on, where they would have been
exposed to African-American singers who came
over to Europe around about that time," he
added. "But the servants would really have had
absolutely no exposure to a black person
whatsoever. They would have no experience of
it."
"I wouldn't want to say we've done some sort
of box-ticking exercise of, 'We ought to make
the show more diverse and multicultural.' We
really haven't done that. We tried to reflect
something that was accurate and that was
going on at the time, while always thinking of
ways to surprise and entertain, with all the
twists and turns that we have."
The U.S. premiere date for the fourth season
of the British period drama has not been
announced yet. Dan Stevens and Siobhan
Finneran have confirmed that they will not
return to the show's new season.