Hollyoaks has launched an investigation into racism on set following a statement from Rachel Adedeji where she shared her experiences of racism. This included racist comments from other employees, black actresses being forced to change their hair in order to be “told apart” and only working with one black director within a timespan of four years.
The Channel 4 soap had announced its plan to release a podcast series about racism in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, which Adedeji condemned, saying: “Putting out a podcast and asking your black cast members to teach you how to tackle these issues is the bare minimum. Do better.”
Adedeji’s former castmate, Amanda Clapham, also recounted racist incidents she had witnessed, such as Adedeji being refused a face powder which matched her skin tone and another black cast member being “disproportionately told off”. Clapham also called for Hollyoaks to apologise to Adedeji.
Lime Pictures – who produce Hollyoaks – responded by saying they had been “deeply shocked and saddened” by the issues raised. In a statement on their website, the company stressed their zero tolerance of racism and discrimination, as well as set out their action plan:
“We are reaching out to all of our cast and staff that have raised matters to make sure that we address individual issues and concerns;
“We have asked all cast, staff and freelancers to share with us any further issues of concern or instances of unacceptable behaviour that they have not previously raised;
“We are working with unconscious bias trainers to augment Lime’s all staff training to help address concerns raised by cast and staff;
“All BAME staff, freelancers and cast will be offered mentoring from Lime’s senior management;
“We will build on our work towards making Lime as diverse and inclusive as possible across all aspects of recruitment and talent retention, on and off screen;
“Lime’s BAME writers and directors schemes will be reviewed and augmented to drive greater inclusivity within the industry;
“We are undertaking an immediate and in depth review of company and cast liaison across Lime;
“We will be producing a Hollyoaks podcast where our black cast will share their experiences on racism to their audience.”
The production company also said that Hollyoaks was “committed to making changes that we need to make.” Adedeji has confirmed her exit from the series, though both her spokesperson and Hollyoaks suggest that this decision was made over a year ago, and is unrelated to either Adedeji’s recent accusations or the soap’s response to them.
Words by Isla Glen