Most gripping BBC drama for years but…..

….it’s drawn quite a few complaints. I’m talking about Bodyguard. It’s sensationally good but there have been innumerable objections to the casting. The Home Secretary, the senior police officer, the two police snipers, the senior train guard, the bomb-disposal expert and the head of the anti-terrorism squad are all women. In the words of one (female) critic on Twitter, “What an utter load of bollocks”. She finds the BBC’s clumsily obvious policy of “casting women in traditional male roles” unrealistic, unrepresentative and patronising. And she should know. She works for the police as a diversity officer. So it does make you wonder – would Pinocchio receive the same career advice today? Maybe. But not if he wanted to play a government minister, senior police officer, police sniper, bomb-disposal expert or head of the anti-terrorism squad.