Casting Jodie Turner-Smith to play Anne Boleyn in a new Channel 5 series is not only historical inaccuracy, it’s a part of a long-term cultural shift that will not heal racial tensions but only stoke them further. Tudor Britain was ‘problematic’ for many reasons. Firstly, life was tough. Really tough. There was no welfare state, no NHS and no criminal justice system, which meant disease, starvation and crime were rife. People might’ve stolen to survive, but theft greater than five pence would often result in a brutal (and very public) execution. Even if you led a moral existence, the average … Continue reading A Black Actress as Anne Boleyn?