Channel 5 has been hit with complaints to Ofcom over their casting for Jodie Turner-Smith’s Anne Boleyn.
Viewers were angry about the stars on the programme, following the show being hit with criticism over choosing a Black actress to play the famed royal.
Ofcom received 167 complaints about the opening episode.
The three-part drama starred Jodie Turner-Smith, 34, as the first Black actress to play the Tudor royal.
The talented actress has previously hit out at criticism over her casting.
Speaking to the Independent, the rising star shared: ” I knew it would be challenging for people because race is challenging for people
“Some people of colour too are asking, ‘Why are they doing this?’”
“But you know, not everything is for everybody.”
She was joined by Paapa Essiedu, 30, playing her brother George.
Anne was one of two of Henry’s wives to be executed.
Jodie said she loved the role as she’d just become a mother.
She told Glamour magazine: “I had just become a mother and that was what really jumped out at me, the story of Anne as a mother.”
“I did know it would be something that people felt very passionately about, either in a positive or a negative way, because Anne is a human in history who people feel very strongly about.”
She added: “More than anything, I wanted to tell the human story at the centre of all of this.”
“[During filming] my daughter was only six months old and I was still nursing her.
“So to have the experience of working with people that have so much compassion for where I was in my journey as a mother, as we were telling the story about a mother, I feel there was just so much more compassion in the storytelling.”
The series covered the final days and hours of Anne’s life, leading up to her death in 1536.
Viewers were also angry about what they saw as ‘inaccuracies’ in the show.
One wrote: “Watched Anne Boleyn on channel 5, the outrageous historical inaccuracy is absolutely rife.”
“The characters live in a small Manor house as their court, Henry injured & alone (he never would be, ever), Anne out walking without a guard.. come on, do better.”
Another wrote: “Great acting but so many inaccuracies in the first couple of minutes.”
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
