Rowan Atkinson has been reported as wading into the debate over age discrimination this morning. In a letter to BBC Radio 4’s the Media Show he as described Miriam O’Reilly’s successful age discrimination case as “an attack on creative free expression”. He goes on to say “if either at the outset of a TV programme, or any time during its screen life you want to replace an old person with a young person, or a white person with a black person or disabled straight with an able bodied gay you should have as much creative freedoms to do so as you have to change the colour of John Craven’s anorak”. Perhaps, John Craven should at least be asked first. Rowan Atkinson said that O’Reilly’s complaint was not more sensible than “Pierce Brosnan complaining that he was sacked from the role of James Bond for being too old”.
These comments raise a number of interesting issues about the nature of discrimination itself and the issues around age discrimination. The law does not forbid creative free expression at present and Rowan Atkinson’s comments pander to a general belief that employers are more restricted than is actually the case. It is having a discriminatory reason which is outlawed, rather than an action in itself. It is ok to treat an old person differently from a young person, or a black person from a white person provided the reason for the treatment is not because of their age or their race.
Age is complicated because it an area where an individual’s position is constantly changing i.e. a person may be young now, but will be older over time. Younger people may perceive that older people are getting advantages because of their age and experience, whilst older people may think they are being overlooked for a younger model. What is also different in Europe (as compared with the US) is that young people may complain about age discrimination as much as older people may. It is possible for a the same individual to claim discrimination on the grounds of age when they are young and then again when they are older from the other end of the spectrum. None of this is straightforward for employers but the best advice is always to approach an issue reasonably and if there is a concern about discrimination to question underlying motives. There is also a genuine occupational requirement defence, so it is generally considered permissible to ask an older actor to play King Lear without infringing the law. This does leave open how old James Bond should be. It is also noted that Doctor Who seems to be getting progressively younger as the years go by. But that is maybe because he is a time lord!