Outlander actor Colin McFarlane has made an emotional appeal on BBC Breakfast urging Black men to get tested for prostate cancer. The actor, who revealed his own diagnosis in 2023, appeared on the show on Saturday alongside Prostate Cancer UK's Chiara De Biase to challenge a controversial recommendation against widespread screenings.
The National Screening Committee (NSC), a body of doctors and economists, cautioned the government this week that mass prostate cancer screenings are «likely to cause more harm than good». The recommendation has sparked opposition from high-profile figures including Sir Chris Hoy and Sir Stephen Fry, both diagnosed with prostate cancer.
Double the risk for Black men
McFarlane highlighted a critical vulnerability: Black men face «double the risk» of developing prostate cancer, with one in four diagnosed during their lifetime. Speaking directly to the camera on BBC Breakfast, he urged: «Any Black men listening to this, and you're between the age of 45 and 74, get hold of Prostate Cancer UK and go on their Transform programme to get this evidence that they say they're missing. Because that's really important.»
De Biase expressed disappointment over the NSC's stance. «We are really disappointed about this. This has been three years in the making and we're actually the only organisation to submit the scientific evidence, because we think it was safe enough,» she said.
Please don't turn him away
McFarlane shared his own experience to emphasize why early testing matters. «I have no pain, I have no symptoms, but I do have prostate cancer,» he told viewers. He directed an urgent message to GPs: «When a man is brave enough to come into your surgery, please don't turn him away! Please don't say, 'You've got no pain, you've got no symptoms, we don't need to test you'.»
The warning was stark: «If you wait for pain and symptoms, it spreads.»
Decades of mistrust
When host Naga Munchetty asked about «lack of confidence or education» preventing men from getting screened, McFarlane pointed to deeper historical issues. «I think if you're looking at high risk Black men, there's a lack of confidence with the NHS, because there's decades of mistrust with the establishment,» he explained.
He drew parallels to the Windrush scandal, referring to the «injustice that happened over decades». McFarlane revealed the extent of the mistrust: «In the Black community they literally say, 'If you go into hospital you never come out again'. Literally, people say that and you go, 'No!' We've got to change that attitude.»
BBC Breakfast airs from 6am on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. For more information, visit prostatecanceruk.org.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
