Andi Peters has praised ITV’s daytime programming for “championing diversity on screen in leading roles”.
On Tuesday (28 March), Peters was the recipient of a RTS Programme Award for Loose Men, a special all-male edition of daily chat show Loose Women.
The episode aired in October to mark Black History Month, with Peters hosting alongside panellists Jordan Banjo, Ore Oduba and Shaun Wallace.
Appearing on Good Morning Britain on Thursday (30 March), Peters showed off the award while praising ITV for their commitment to diversity on stage and joking that white presenters Susanna Reid and Richard Arnold were “outnumbered”.
“Can I just say one thing very quickly?” he asked. “I just think on ITV daytime, we have celebrated diversity. Look at the desk right now. You’re outnumbered. Doesn’t happen all the time.
“There are three people of colour sitting at this desk right now. That is important for every single kid or young adult watching right now, who thinks, I want to work in television but there’s never going to be an opportunity.”
“Can’t be what you can’t see,” Reid responded, with Peters continuing: “This is the opportunity. Look at this desk right now. 10 years ago, it wouldn’t have looked like that. I genuinely think ITV daytime have championed diversity on screen in leading roles.”
After receiving the award, Oduba said that Loose Men had “totally changed my life, because without having the chance to talk about my issues that I was going through, I probably still would be dealing with them on my own.
“It gave us a platform that we could share… The legacy of it, what it means for everyone who watched it, is really important.”
