Imagine a world in which Britain (Albion) has been colonised by Africa seven hundred years ago. By 2020 we have some very angry Noughts, oppressed and poor and some very privileged, but often troubled, black rulers or Crosses. Enter Romeo and Juliet or Callum (Jack Rowan) and Sephy (Mazali Baduza) and you have a strong and often violent narrative which constantly challenges your assumptions.
Malorie Blackman’s original 2001 novel was inspired by the murder of Stephen Lawrence and she has gone on to write four full length sequels and two related novellas since. The RSC staged a theatre version in 2007/8, adapted by Dominic Cooke and published by Nick Hern Books.
The new TV version (adapted by Toby Whithouse) moves the action forward to the present. Everyone uses smart phones and the clothes and cars are edgy, for example and it is very fast paced. It’s also horrifying, against the current background of George Floyd’s murder and the Black Lives Matter movement, to see the way the Cross police treat any Nought they approach. And the details are immaculately observed and understated. Aspirant whites style their hair in imitation of the elaborately sculpted Cross way. Eating habits and music are imaginatively different as we reflect on how things might have evolved over seven centuries.
Paterson Joseph puts in a glittering performance as Sephy’s Home Secretary father who goes on to become Prime Minister. Baduza is attractively determined as Sephy and Rowan is sensitive as Callum. It’s all pretty compelling.
There are rumours of a second series.
Review by Susan Elkin
IMAGE: Sephy (Masali Baduza) and Callum (Jack Rowan) fall in love across Albion’s class and racial divides. Photograph: Ilze Kitshoff/BBC/Mammoth Screen