Channel 4’s groundbreaking Black to Front initiative will air over 24 hours on Friday, 10 September.
One of the broadcaster’s factual entertainment commissioners Vivienne Molokwu, revealed that they envisioned “something that would make you stop and think and talk about representation”.
Channel 4 will feature Black stars throughout its programming that day, including advertisements, as part of its commitment to championing underrepresented voices.
Among the lineups for the day is Countdown with Sir Trevor McDonald, The Big Breakfast with AJ Odudu, Mo Gilligan, and the original newsreader Phil Gayle, and Unapologetic, a talk show challenging the notion of what the Black community is allowed to say.
“The true reality is that when you turn on British television, you’d be hard-pressed to see for a few hours, let alone the whole day, only Black faces anywhere,” added Molokwu.
“We don’t have BET… so for this to happen on mainstream television felt like it would be huge. It would mean that we’d all keep talking about something we know we can’t fix overnight.”
Ahead of this special occasion, Odudu said in a press release: “I absolutely can’t wait to get stuck into The Big Breakfast. I’m so looking forward to working with Mo, and I can’t wait to wake up the nation! I’m thrilled to be part of Channel 4’s Black to Front – which quite rightly gives a platform to deserving Black British TV talent across our industry, both on and off screen.”
TV veteran McDonald also commented: “I am proud and delighted to be presenting Countdown on this special day; I have always enjoyed watching Countdown, a show that has been around for almost as long as I have!”
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