Killing Eve boss responds to criticism over all-white writers' room

The series follows the complicated relationship between intelligence agent Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh) and Villanelle (Jodie Comer), the psychotic assassin she is initially tasked with tracking down.

Despite having an Asian lead character, Killing Eve was revealed to be written by an entirely white writing team in a since-deleted tweet from Kayleigh Llewellyn, creator of BBC Three's In My Skin.

https://twitter.com/jesthevu/status/1271567508969938945

In a virtual panel held as part of SeriesFest, boss Sally Woodward Gentle responded to backlash over the lack of diversity in the voices behind the show.

She said: "The make-up of the room should be more racially diverse than it is, and we're really aware of that and I take full responsibility for it.

"You look at that room and it's full of brilliant female writers, we've got a really strong LGBTQ contingent, but it's not good enough and we need to do better. We should do better... a show like Killing Eve should be able to do better."

Gentle added: "The production from the ground up – the entire production – we're looking at in terms of how we can make concrete change, because it's incredibly important to us and it's got to be change that lasts and is effective.

"I think this is an extraordinary moment, and we've got to make a difference. It's not good enough."

The controversy follows weeks of Black Lives Matter protests around the world, which brought attention to systemic racism throughout society, as well as Sandra Oh's recent comments stating the UK's film and TV industry is lagging behind in terms of diversity.

Season four of Killing Eve is on the way, although it is unclear when shooting will start on new episodes due to complications caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Killing Eve is available to stream on BBC iPlayer. If you're looking for more to watch, check out our TV Guide.