A Turkish Cypriot playing a Greek in Eastenders

[iancrumpy]

Yes, this has really upset the Greek Cypriot community both south-side and in London. Those of us who watch Eastenders (occasionally in my case) are familiar with Mr Papadopulos, the owner of the launderette. Well, his nephew, Nico Papadopoulos, has opened a take-away ... and Nico is played by London-born Aykut Hilmi, whose Father, Ali Hilmi, was born in the village of Ötügen, near Iskele.
If you read comments 36 onwards from this BBC web page, thishttp://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/eastenders/2012/04/ ... t-18.shtml
then you'll learn that the GCs are not only upset by there being an "imposter" (that's a quote from a south-side forum), but also because there is the Turkish flag and post-cards of Istanbul on the wall of the take-away.

In an interview with KKTC Medya Aykut Hilm said "Dizide Yunanlı bir kebabçıyı oynuyorum. Adım Nico Papadopoulos.. Yanımda Türk de çalışıyor. Rol için Rum sanatçılarla da görüşmüşler, ancak beni seçtiler. Dükkanın duvarında Türk bayrağı ve Türkiye’yi gösteren kartpostallar var.."
[In the soap, I play a Greek, running a kebab shop. A Turk works with me. They also interviewed Greek actors for the part, but they chose me. On the wall of the shop there is a Turkish flag and post cards showing Turkey ... "]
In the article he then goes on to tell us about the fan-mail he is now receiving.
http://www.kktcmedya.com/h5556-kktc_li_ ... liyor.html

I've not seen Hilmi on the the show yet, but I'm not certain if that's because I didn't see any episodes last week or because we see the episodes three weeks after they're shown in the UK.

In any case, do you think the GCs are right to be be up in arms?
Personally I am surprised someone at the BBC didn't think that casting a TC to play a Greek could cause problems. Maybe the show's makers should have a occasional chat with someone in the newsroom.

[Keithcaley]

...Personally I am surprised someone at the BBC didn't think that casting a TC to play a Greek could cause problems. ..........

Erm Crumpy, old bean - I think that they might fall foul of the Racial Discrimination Laws if they paid any consideration to 'Nationality' when selecting actors for parts ...

They're probably already on thin ice, just by looking for someone male, olive-skinned, and 'Foreign looking'

[iancrumpy]

But Keith, getting a TC to play a Greek is asking for trouble - I'm sure there were plenty of other non-Turkish "olive-skinned" actors they could have chosen.

[PoshinDevon]

Maybe when the BBC were looking for someone for the role, they interviewed, gave them a screen test and script and decided he was the best actor for the role. Don't see a problem with any of it. If Kate Winslett can play an American or. German as she has done then not sure what the difference is. Well done to him for getting the part.

[Marions]

Actors are chosen for their ability to fill the role the way the producer sees it. You could be a Martian with a green head and two attenae, but if that is what the producer has in mind as being ideal to play the part of a Cornish farmer, then it is the |Martian that gets the part.
At Shakespeares globe the other year, two brothers had been cast (can't remember the play now) and one was black and the other white - explain that one.
I don't see nayproblem with a Greek being a Turk, or a Turk being a Greek, or an Aristocraft playing a gor blimey, or an English being a German et,cetc. Acting is just that -ACTING.

Of course I am just helaous. Would love a part in East Ender,s but don't think I could take the early morning starts, so if they were looking for a lazy slut to start early. i am out of it, but if they wanted me to play the part of a prostitute and starting later in the day, I would audition for it. Does that mean I have to be a prostitute to get the part!?

[iancrumpy]

I hear what you're saying guys and would like it to be the case that ethnic background has no bearing on who is chosen to play what, but unfortunately in this (sensitive) case, I think it should have been considered.

In any case, it looks as though Aykut is set to continue in that role ... I will have to look out for the Turkish flag on the wall ...

[Marions]

No don't agree. It is super sensitivity. I was once an irish barmaid on the London stage, and there is not one ounce of irish in me. Gladly no irish objected to my being there, . it is time that people 'got real'. and the Turkish flag is far better than some of the things one sees on the wlal of London cafes!

[Keithcaley]

...I....would like it to be the case that ethnic background has no bearing on who is chosen to play what....

I'm sorry, my old pal, but you just don't get it . It is no longer the case that you have to wish for that - the Law dictates it! - It's compulsory.

To have done as you suggest would be Illegal - They absolutely, utterly, could not have done it. Unless they were willing to face prosecution and losing their jobs, that is...

[iancrumpy]

Fair enough Keith, me old matey ... if true, then it's reasuring to know that Auntie is playing it's part in helping to uphold the laws of the land Not certain though if the GCs will see it this way

[Marions]

Any GC resident on British soil must also uphold the law of the land. Not shout against it because of misplaced personal prejudice. Just as I must (try) observe the laws of this land. Innit!

[tractorsafari]

They seem to be more up in arms about the flag and postcard, than the bloke!!! And I must say if the Beeb want to get the set design right, then there should not have bee a Turkish flag. It's just not realistic. The actor I don't have a problem with, but then the Greeks got out of their pram, complaining about the actress in 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin not being Greek.
They obviously have too much time on their hands, noticing all these things and shouting about them

[Keithcaley]

I thought that it was quite amusing that the more Crumpy and I disagreed with each other, the more pointedly polite we became

"That's the way to do it!" - to quote Mr Punch

[Mel7348]

Just a bit cheeky a Greek Cypriot character displaying a Turkish Flag.
Has it caused comment in the mainstream English press. If so then public awareness re TRNC is probably quite helpful. TRNC as always needs all the help it can get.

[JeanW]

Well, have to agree with Mel78348 in that TRNC needs all the help it can get. I had to laugh at work recently (otherwise I'd weep, quite honestly) when a colleague, who had moved with her husband to work in Cyprus many years ago, told me, in all seriousness, that the only thing they knew about Cyprus before they moved there was that it was a Greek Island.

Keith - it's good to see that you and Mr Crumpy are leading by example on here.

[Edi]

Is mel gibson a real Scot? Who cried? ... all right most of the UK at first, but they got over it

[deputydawg]

If he simulates speaking proper like I does, can shout "Rickee, yer 'aving a laff aint yer", porks/kebaps his best friend's wife and his mother in law too (as the naff scripts will probably demand that), rips off the punters in his shop, and stabs the Turkish Cypriot in the chest whilst he was watching his back, he is likely to be featured in OK Magazine and be elevated to what nowadays passes as Star and Celebrity status. Good luck to him I say but I will not be able to recognise him by face or name and will be trying to find some football on another channel before the Wildebeest (bless her) takes command of the remote control !

[iancrumpy]

"Just a bit cheeky a Greek Cypriot character displaying a Turkish Flag"

I thought the same at first Mel, but in the interview with Aykut Hilmi, he says that there there is a Turkish character in the take-away with him, so the BBC could explain away the Turkish flag on that. That said, if there is both a Turk and a Greek working in the take-away, it would have been more appropriate to have put both the Turkish and Greek flags up.

[Marions]

Cor blimey! They're making a bigger drama out of the flag and the kebab shop than the death of Heather! Think I prefer the everyday lives of the OTT East Enders than this out of place, OTT misunderstanding ovder a bleedin' flag. Innit?

[elizabeth]

I would have thought that there were more pressing matters for GC,s to worry about, like the Euro and what is happening in Greece. After all Eastenders is only a soap.

[Edi]

The whole reason for soaps is to take your mind off your everyday problems. This is why our southern friends take umbrage.

[iancrumpy]

"The whole reason for soaps is to take your mind off your everyday problems"
"They (the GCs) are making a bigger drama out of the flag and the kebab shop than the death of Heather."

Don't forget though that many people in the UK don't often watch the news or current affairs programmes and so have little exposure to matters such as euthanasia, attitudes to homosexuals, mixed-race marriages, pre-nuptial agreements(very current, that last one) ... and may only really learn of such issues on soaps such as Eastenders. Therefore I feel the script writers/producers etc have a responsibility to at least be factually accurate with these issues.

And yes, with a Turk and a Greek working in the same place, it gives the script writers an ideal opportunity to have a 20-second dialogue along the lines of
Fat Boy : Hang on a minute, you're Greek and he's Turkish, I thought you guys hated each other.
Nico : Yeah, there's been a few problems in the past, but we're cool with it these days. Besides he makes the best kebab sauce around.

Of course it wouldn't have the same effect as Didier Drogba's plea for peace did on the warring factions in the Ivory Coast, but it certainly wouldn't do any harm.

[Keithcaley]

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.Public service Announcements disguised as dialogue on Eastenders - I like it! - Only because I don't watch the damned programme

It reminds me of all that 'Min of Ag and Fish' propaganda that they used to slip into the Archers...

(music: Dum de dum de dum de dum...)

"Morning Jethro"
"Morning Mr Archer"

(Sound off: approaching footsteps)

"Oh, here comes Walter Gabriel"
"Hello Walter"
"Hello Walter"
"Hello Mr Archer, Hello Jethro"

(Sound off: Birdsong)

"I say Mr Archer, have you heard about that new subsidy for Winter Wheat?"

(Sound off: Cow farts, explosively)

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[deputydawg]

Keith, the Wildebeest (bless her) states that she is not a cow and was no where near Ambridge at the time of the incident of flatulence !

[Marions]

Keep it coming guys. I feel a TV series coming on!Keep the lines coming, and I will write the script, soner canpublish it and we can sell it to the Beeb for mga bucks. e