Queenie author Candice Carty Williams is bringing us “a London-based music drama” on the BBC, Champion, and we are absolutely buzzing for it.
As part of a larger push by the BBC to adapt fantastic books by female authors – think Dolly Alderton's Everything I Know About Love and Nikki May’s Wahala – Candice will be bringing a “love letter to Black British music” centred around fame and family rivalry to our screens very soon.
Champion will be an original story from the author, and marks her first TV project. Here's everything we know so far.
The competition is just around the corner, but (as it stands) we won't be able to watch it.
Top Boy's Malcolm Kamulete will play Bosco , “a rap sensation who comes home from prison ready to dominate the music industry”. Actress Déja J Bowens and singer Ray BLK join as their TV debut, alongside Nadine Marshall (Small Axe), Ray Fearon (Beauty and the Beast) and Jo Martin (Doctor Who, Top Boy).
Also starring in Champion is Kerim Hassan (Once Upon a Time In London), Adeyinka Akinrinade (Everything I Know About Love), Tom Forbes (Wolf Hall, Knightfall), Genesis Lynea (Shadow and Bone, Silent Witness), Karl Collins (Attack The Block), Francis Lovehall (Death on the Nile), Corey Weekes (Coronation Street, Doctors) and Rachel Adedeji (Dreaming Whilst Black).
Ray BLK will also oversee the music on the show – which will undoubtedly be integral to its plot – alongside grime pioneer Ghetts.
According to the BBC's plot synopsis, Champion will be “a love letter to Black British music set in south London… a celebration of a sound that has long been the beating heart of our culture.”
The show will follow Bosco Champion (Malcolm Kamulete) as he adjusts to life out of prison, making plans to take over the music industry. His younger sister Vita (Déja J Bowens), who has asked as his personal assistant for years, finally comes to terms with her own talent after she's discovered by Bosco's rival, Bulla, setting off a chain of events as the Champion family compete for success.
Candice summed up what the TV series means to her in a statement to the BBC: "Champion is a celebration of Black music and of a Black family, however fragmented that family might be, and I can’t wait for the world to see their story.
“Since I knew what music was, I’ve loved grime and UK rap and neo-soul, to the point of obsession, and to bring to BBC One in the UK and Netflix globally a series that gives these genres of music life and texture is my dream, as is working with some of the best producers and songwriters making music today to create original tracks for the show.”
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In an Instagram post in July 2022, she also posted of her excitement about creating the fictional famous family who will duke it out on the screens for our entertainment: “Coming to @bbcone in the U.K. and @netflix globally in 2023 🏆 An honour to have given life to this family and this world, and to be creating music with @therealghetts, @rayblk + very many more. This is the beginning of where we make Black history. Hold tight. #WinnersOnly”.
We don't have a solid release date yet, but we know it's going to be out this summer. It will be an eight-part series, available to watch first on BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and Ireland, and will later be added to Netflix across the world.
There is indeed, check out the upcoming drama here:
