Casting has been announced for the original new drama series Champion which is currently in production for BBC One and BBC iPlayer in the UK and, outside of the UK and Ireland, on Netflix across the world.
Déja J Bowens joins the cast in her exciting TV debut alongside Malcolm Kamulete (Top Boy, Ill Manors), music sensation Ray BLK (also her TV debut), Nadine Marshall (Sherwood, Small Axe), Ray Fearon (His Dark Materials, Beauty and the Beast) and Jo Martin (Doctor Who, Top Boy).
The 8 x 45’ musical drama also stars Kerim Hassan (Once Upon a Time in London), Adeyinka Akinrinade (Everything I Know About Love, Top Boy), Tom Forbes (Wolf Hall, Knightfall), Genesis Lynea (Shadow and Bone, Silent Witness), Karl Collins (Attack The Block, Hollyoaks), Francis Lovehall (Small Axe, Death on the Nile), Corey Weekes (Coronation Street, Doctors) and Rachel Adedeji (Dreaming Whilst Black, Hollyoaks).
Champion is the first TV project for Candice Carty-Williams, author of The Sunday Times bestselling novel Queenie and the new hit novel and Sunday Times Bestselling People Person. The show tells the explosive story of what happens when fame collides with family.
Candice Carty-Williams says: "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 and iPlayer in the U.K. 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."
Rap sensation Bosco Champion is home from prison, and ready to dominate the music industry once more. But when his dutiful younger sister Vita’s own talent is discovered by Bosco’s rival, Bulla, she steps out of her brother's shadow to become a performer in her own right, setting the Champion siblings against one another and tearing apart the whole family in the process.
A love letter to Black British music set in south London, Champion is a celebration of a sound that has long been the beating heart of our culture. Featuring original music written and produced by some of the leading musicians this country has to offer, singer/ songwriter and BBC Music Sound Of 2017 prize winner Ray BLK serves as Music Executive alongside grime pioneer and BRIT and Mercury Prize nominated Ghetts.
Champion is a co-production between Balloon Entertainment and New Pictures (part of the All3Media Group) in association with All3Media International for BBC One and Netflix. The show is executive produced by Bryan Elsley, Dave Evans and Danielle Scott-Haughton for Balloon Entertainment, Charlie Pattinson, Willow Grylls and Imogen O’Sullivan for New Pictures, Candice Carty-Williams, and by Jo McClellan for the BBC, with Nawfal Faizullah as Commissioning Exec. The series is a co-production for the BBC and Netflix. It was commissioned for the BBC by Piers Wenger, former director of BBC Drama with Alice Pearse and Tom Lyons leading for Netflix.
The Producer is Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor and the first block director is John Ogunmuyiwa. Adeyemi Michael and Christiana Ebohon-Green will direct the second and third block. Alongside Candice Carty-Williams, other writers include Ameir Brown, Isis Davis, Emma Dennis-Edwards and Edem Wornoo.
