London, Jan 20 (PTI) Actor Idris Elba has called on UK politicians to give black actors more television opportunities, otherwise they will end up being "thrown on the scrapheap".
The "Luther" star urged better representation of women, disabled people and people of different races, reported the BBC.
He is convinced that he would never have scored a lead TV role if he stayed in Britain, where he would have been stuck with best friend roles or "cop sidekick parts".
"I knew I wasn't going to land a lead role. I knew there wasn't enough imagination in the industry for me to be seen as a lead.
"In other words, if I wanted to star in a British drama like Luther, then I'd have to go to a country like America.
And the other thing was, because I never saw myself on TV, I stopped watching TV. Instead I decided to just go out and become TV.
