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The Untold: Darkie Day: Michael and the Mummers

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Darkie Day: Michael and the Mummers

22/02/2016

BBC Radio 4 - The Untold, Darkie Day: Michael and the Mummers

Black film-maker Michael Jenkins is making a film about a controversial Cornish festival.

Grace Dent presents untold stories of 21st-century Britain. Young black film-maker Michael Jenkins is making a film about Padstow's Darkie Day. Who will tell him what it means?

Grace Dent presents untold stories of 21st century Britain. Young black film director Michael Jenkins is making a film about Padstow's Darkie Day. It's a long standing tradition where local residents black up their faces and process through the streets singing and dancing. The locals are defensive about their celebration which is part of their Cornish identity. Despite what outsiders think they say it has no racial overtones, but they did change the name to Mummers Day after complaints prompted MP Diane Abbott to call for the festival to be stopped. As a young Black British man Michael wants to experience it for himself and capture it on film. Will any of the town's residents accept his invitation to sit down and have an honest conversation with him about Darkie Day's origins and meaning? Is political correctness making it worse? This is a story where modern Britain meets medieval history in a clash of cultures. 

Producer: Maggie Ayre.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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