Stormzy ‘would be welcome back for second series of Noughts + Crosses’
The rapper plays a newspaper editor-in-chief in the series.
The makers of Noughts + Crosses want Stormzy to return to the programme if it comes back for a second series, according to the show’s executive producer.
Preethi Mavahalli told the Radio Times that the rapper-turned-actor is “so talented”.
She added: “Of course we would want him back.
“He can put his mind to anything, there is no end to what he can do.
“And the world will let him.”
Stormzy plays a newspaper editor-in-chief during a brief appearance in the show.
Mavahalli added that usually when you see young black men on screen “they tend to be playing gangsters or criminals”.
“We don’t see them in an establishment position of power,” she told the magazine.
“Seeing Stormzy play an editor-in-chief makes you think, ‘Of course he could do that job! Why don’t I see that in real life?'”
Koby Adom, who directed the BBC One series, said that the makers of the programme “treated him as an actor, which is what he was”.
“He was a little nervous at the beginning, but he’s adaptable and resilient, and in the end, expressing himself as Kolawale was almost like therapy.”
He added: “Stormzy is so exposed to the world and to the media, and the way he handles it is amazing.
“He has huge confidence and he will dust himself off and crack on.
“That takes an incredible amount of steel.
“He’s bold in presence, fearless. And we all know he can perform: watch him at Glastonbury.”
Stormzy, whose real name is Michael Omari, insisted that the programme’s cast and crew called him by his first name, he added.
The rapper was also praised by Malorie Blackman, who wrote the books on which the programme is based.
She said: “He knows when to stand his ground when he’s right and when to admit that he’s got something wrong.
“And I love the way he’s not afraid to show who he is, warts and all, in his songs.”
Noughts + Crosses airs at 9pm on Thursday on BBC One.
Read the full interview in the Radio Times.
