One World

THIS IS A FIVE MINUTE TASTER FROM THE 1ST EPISODE OF ‘ONE WORLD’.

One programme which did much to redress this balance was ‘One World’ which was produced by Central Television in 1991. Many people who saw the programme, rated it as one of the finest programmes for the ethnic communities ever broadcast in the UK. The programme was made by Central in the run-up to the re-application for their licence to broadcast. Unfortunately a second series, although talked about for some time, was never commissioned.

The following is part of the press release dated Tuesday the 9th April 1991 and sent out by Central Television in the run-up to the broadcast of the first programme. One World was a six-part series of news, views, style sport and entertainment for a multi-cultural audience. The programme was produced by Central Television and was presented by me Mike Shaft and the wonderful Sneh Gupta.

The first programme reported on the growing number of ‘Buppies’ – young, black entrepreneurs – and spoke to successful men and women about their struggles to reach the top. There was also a look at the trend of hair sculpting.

On a more serious note, there was a report from Leicester General Hospital’s Renal Unit on the urgent need for Asian Kidney donors to help fight the special problems endemic to that community. Say’s producer Paula Ahluwalia: “One World is a glossy, fast moving show which fills a gap in the market. It is a positive programme which has something for all sections of the community”.

Other programmes in the series featured celebrity interviews, including Tessa Sanderson and Rusty Lee who talked about how they have rebuilt their lives after winning court actions against national newspapers.
Other items lined up for the series included a Birmingham welder who realised a dream by reaching the top of the British Reggae chart. His name Apache Indian. Each programme featured a weekly top ten video countdown of the latest releases from Bollywood – Bombay’s film making centre.

One World was directed by the excellent Nigel Warrack, and the reporters were Pogus Caesar, David Akinsanya and Monika Sikand. The executive producer was Steve Clark.

SNEH TAKES A SHORT CUT TO THE TOP

So determined was former actress and beauty queen Sneh Gupta to be taken seriously in her new career as a television presenter that she had her gleaming waist-length locks cropped short.
“I was so fed up with people in the acting world ringing me up and asking me to take stereotyped parts that I cut off my hair,” says Sneh, one of the presenters of One World, Central’s new magazine programme for a multicultural audience. “Now with hair less than two inches long, no-one approaches me to play a typically Asian woman, and I certainly get taken more seriously in the business world. I don’t regret it one bit, even though having long hair made it easier to get through doors.”

Born in Kenya of Indian parents, Sneh first came to public notice when she was awarded the title of Miss Anglia TV in 1977. This led to the job of hostess on The Sale of The Century, and then to a succession of acting roles, including a regular part in Crossroads, and the role of Sushila who came to grief on her husband’s funeral pyre in the television mini-series The Far Pavilions. “I got into showbusiness through the back door,” says Sneh. “I was living in Bedford and training as a nurse when a group of us decided to gatecrash the Miss Anglia TV auditions for a laugh. Then one thing just led to another”.

MIKE CALLS FOR MORE BLACK PEOPLE ON TV

“I feel very strongly that there are not enough black people in television,” says Mike Shaft, one of the presenters of One World. “There are not enough on the screen and not enough in the decision making process”.

That opinion got Mike his first television break, as a presenter on the BBC morning programme Open Air.

“I wrote to the BBC complaining very forcefully about the lack of coloured people on television,” says Mike. “I think they rather got the point because they invited me on to Open Air to discuss it, even though I insisted that the only person I would speak to was Michael Grade. [then controller of BBC1].

“After the show I met the editor and he said I had handled my argument very well. A few weeks later he got in touch and offered me the chance of applying for a researcher’s job. I said I didn’t want to be a researcher, I wanted to be a presenter, and the next day I was invited for a screen test”.