On Tuesday 6 May, our Projects Manager, Mitchell Graham, joined Kaye Adams live on BBC Radio Scotland’s Mornings programme, alongside our in-house BSL/English interpreter, Megan Frickleton.
The topic of conversation was the recent Doctor Who episode, which featured deaf actor Rose Ayling-Ellis and saw the Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, using British Sign Language (BSL) on screen for the very first time. This marked an exciting and significant moment for deaf representation in mainstream television.
During the interview, Mitchell spoke about how encouraging it was to see BSL being used so naturally and prominently in the show. “It really shows that there’s more inclusivity for the deaf community. We feel like we are on an equal playing field with our hearing peers,” he said. Mitchell also reflected on how far we’ve come in terms of representation, but emphasised there is still more to be done.
The conversation also highlighted other recent TV productions featuring BSL, such as Reunion, and discussed how deaf characters and BSL are beginning to feature in storylines as a natural part of the narrative, not just as a focal point, but as part of everyday life on screen.
You can read the full interview transcript here.
We are currently working to obtain video footage of the interview, which we will add to this blog post if and when it becomes available to us. In the meantime, a short clip is available on social media here.
A big thank you to BBC Radio Scotland and Kaye Adams for having us on the programme.
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