THE North-East writer of Doctor Who has revealed his reservations about plans to include a black soldier in an episode of the BBC show.

Sedgefield-born Mark Gatiss, left, said he was uneasy about the casting of a “brilliant young black actor” because “there weren’t any black soldiers in Victoria’s army.”

He put the decision down to the BBC wanting to become “more representational and make everything less homogeneously white” but he felt the need to send an email to a colleague expressing his feelings.

Following his own research and the discovery there was a single black soldier in that army he accepted the decision.

Jimmy Durham was adopted by the Durham Light Infantry after they discovered him as a baby floating on the River Nile in 1885.

The infant had only a few words – he would make a gun with his fingers, point at someone and shout “bonsy morto.” They called him James Francis Durham, after two of the sergeants who tended to him, and he went on route marches sitting astride the pommel of Sgt AM Stuart’s saddle.

When the 2nd DLI returned, Jimmy became known in south Durham through performing concerts with the DLI band and, on July 25, 1908, at Newcastle Register Office, he married Jane Green, 23, the daughter of a Bishop Auckland blacksmith.

The marriage coincided with the 2nd DLI being posted to Ireland, where the cold weather did not agree with him and on August 8, 1910, he died of pneumonia in Fermoy Military Hospital, Cork.

Three weeks after his death, Jane gave birth to his only child, a daughter, Frances, who remained in the town until she died, unmarried, in 1998.

The Doctor Who episode Empress of Mars, which aired on Saturday, was set in 1888 with the Doctor, Bill and Nardole visiting Mars where there is a war between Victorian soldiers and the Ice Warriors.

Speaking to 200 Oxford University students, Mr Gatiss said the response to the email was “It’s Doctor Who, so everything is already a strange and different world where from the time the show came back, Russell T Davies is very particular about making sure the show had colour blind casting.”

He said: “I thought that was a very interesting dilemma, in terms of there are shows where you can be immediately more diverse and so you should be, and also times when it is slightly more problematic.”