Why can't Naz be a Hobbit?

Naz Humphreys, a British woman of Pakistani heritage, is just five feet tall and, on a long holiday to New Zealand, applied to be an extra in the forthcoming movie, The Hobbit, writes Peter Rhodes.

But she says she was turned down as too dark-skinned. A casting manager allegedly told the hopefuls that Hobbits "all look kind of homogenised beige and are all derived from the Caucasian gene pool."

The debate about race and Tolkien has been rattling on for decades (Google has 194,000 references to it).

It is undeniable that Tolkien's heroes tend to have pale skins and golden locks while the baddies are generally dark.

The curious part is that a 21st century movie feels obliged to mimic the books.

Theatre companies long ago adopted "colour-blind casting." If theatre audiences can accept African King Lears and Asian Lady Macbeths, surely cinema audiences can cope with Naz Humphreys wandering into camera shot in Hobbiton.