‘Colour-blind’ BBC Battle of Hastings drama will have diverse actors playing Anglo-Saxons

A new BBC drama about the Battle of Hastings will feature a diverse cast, with historians questioning why ‘colour-blind’ casting was used at a time ‘when Britain was at its most multicultural’.

King and Conqueror, an eight-part series, tells the story of the struggle between Harold and William for the English throne, culminating in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Jason Forbes and Elander Moore are among a diverse group of actors cast as Anglo-Saxon characters, The Telegraph defeated.

It’s another costume drama that follows the BBC in its colorblind casting of non-white stars, which it also did for the return of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.

King and Conqueror is a co-production of CBS Studios that was acquired by the BBC. Last year, CBS Studios president Lindsey Martin said the scripts would provide a “bold and fresh take on a story that has endured for nearly 1,000 years.”

The BBC said the series would “bring Harold and William to life”, adding: “In the UK we learn about William the Conqueror, the Battle of Hastings and the gruesome death of King Harold in our history lessons at school, but those headlines are all most of us can remember.”

Forbes (left) and Elander Moore (right) are among a diverse group of actors cast as Anglo-Saxon characters

The king and conqueror tell the story of the Battle of Hastings, depicted here on the Bayeux Tapestry

The colorblind casting has received some criticism, with historian Dr. Zareer Masani saying: Telegraph: ‘Some of us, including people of color, grew up with the idea that actors had to look like the characters they played.’

He said it could be “hugely confusing and downright misleading”, adding that it was “absolutely insane that they have applied this colour blindness to a period when Britain was at the very least multicultural, even before the Norman Conquest”.

The cast includes Norton as Harold Godwinson and Coster-Waldau as William, Duke of Normandy, alongside co-stars Juliet Stevenson and Clemence Poesy.

Forbes and Moore play the Anglo-Saxons, with Moore playing a fictional character, Thane Thomas.

Moore, of Trinidadian descent, will star as the real-life historical figure of Morcar, an Earl of Northumbria who fought against Viking and Norman invaders before being replaced by William after the Battle of Hastings. He later rebelled against William.

King and Conqueror follows in the footsteps of the Netflix series Bridgerton, which starred Adjoa Andoh as Lady Agatha Danbury in Regency England, while Jodie Turner-Smith starred in the 2021 Channel 5 series Anne Boleyn.

This follows the news that Wolf Hall will return with a noticeably more diverse cast of actors portraying the Tudor nobility (pictured Kate Phillips as Henry’s third wife, Jane Seymour, and Cecilia Appiah, far right, as her sister-in-law Anne)

Jane Seymour’s sister-in-law Anne, whose character name has been changed to Nan for the series, is played by British actress Cecilia Appiah (left), while Sarah Priddy, of Bahamian descent, plays their mother Lady Margery

The shift to showcase more diverse talent follows in the footsteps of Netflix series Bridgerton, which starred Adjoa Andoh as Lady Agatha Danbury in Regency-era England (left), while 2021 Channel 5 series Anne Boleyn starred Jodie Turner-Smith.

And in April, it was announced that Wold Hall would feature a diverse cast portraying Tudor courtiers in 16th-century England.

Jane Seymour’s sister-in-law Anne, whose character’s name is changed to Nan in the series, is played by British actress Cecilia Appiah, while Sarah Priddy, of Bahamian descent, plays their mother Lady Margery.

Thomas Wyatt, a Tudor courtier and poet who introduced the sonnet to England, is played by Amir El-Masry, an Egyptian-British actor.

The role was played in the 2015 series by Slow Horses star Jack Lowden.