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Then, Now, Next · Today · 44 min

8. The Next Generation

First we fought for a place on screen. Then we fought to tell our stories our way. Now we’re building the screens ourselves. In the series finale, we meet the creators who stopped waiting for permission and started owning their platforms, their audiences and their narratives. Adjani Salmon self-funded Dreaming Whilst Black as a web series. It’s now in its second season on the BBC, proof that the online-to-broadcast pipeline is real. Producer Sheila Nortley went from founding her first production company and working with digital talent to producing Netflix’s Supacell and Stay Close. And Joivan Wade and Percelle Scott of Wall of Entertainment have spent more than a decade of building original content on YouTube, long before the industry was paying attention. The struggles are real, but so are the wins. This episode is about celebrating the future of Black British TV and digital content. Then, Now, Next traces seven decades of Black British life on screen; from the first Black reporter on screen, Barbara Blake Hannah and the racist caricatures of The Black and White Minstrel Show, through Channel 4's multicultural unit who had £8M to spend on Black and Asian programming, the era defining Desmond's, and the rise of Black women as commissioners and show runners, the popularity of music television, including MTV's The Lick, to the making of today's Black led shows such as Supacell and Dreaming Whilst Black. Host Annika Allen Gray (All3Media's Head of Diversity) talks to the presenters, producers and commissioners, who fought for space on the small screen, and the ones now building their own platforms instead of waiting for a green light. Each episode moves through a different chapter: the fight to be seen, the fight to be heard, and the fight to own the story. You can watch the interviews with the contributors in full in the Black Leaders in TV YouTube Channel. For more information visit blackleadersintv.com/ and follow us on Instagram @blackleadersintv Then, Now, Next is funded by the Royal Television Society's Shiers Trust Award. Hosted by Annika Allen Gray (@annikaallen) and produced by Leanne Alie (@leannealie). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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show notes

First we fought for a place on screen. Then we fought to tell our stories our way. Now we’re building the screens ourselves. In the series finale, we meet the creators who stopped waiting for permission and started owning their platforms, their audiences and their narratives.


Adjani Salmon self-funded Dreaming Whilst Black as a web series. It’s now in its second season on the BBC, proof that the online-to-broadcast pipeline is real. Producer Sheila Nortley went from founding her first production company and working with digital talent to producing Netflix’s Supacell and Stay Close. And Joivan Wade and Percelle Scott of Wall of Entertainment have spent more than a decade of building original content on YouTube, long before the industry was paying attention.

The struggles are real, but so are the wins. This episode is about celebrating the future of Black British TV and digital content.


Then, Now, Next traces seven decades of Black British life on screen; from the first Black reporter on screen, Barbara Blake Hannah and the racist caricatures of The Black and White Minstrel Show, through Channel 4's multicultural unit who had £8M to spend on Black and Asian programming, the era defining Desmond's, and the rise of Black women as commissioners and show runners, the popularity of music television, including MTV's The Lick, to the making of today's Black led shows such as Supacell and Dreaming Whilst Black.


Host Annika Allen Gray (All3Media's Head of Diversity) talks to the presenters, producers and commissioners, who fought for space on the small screen, and the ones now building their own platforms instead of waiting for a green light. Each episode moves through a different chapter: the fight to be seen, the fight to be heard, and the fight to own the story.


You can watch the interviews with the contributors in full in the Black Leaders in TV YouTube Channel.

For more information visit blackleadersintv.com/ and follow us on Instagram @blackleadersintv


Then, Now, Next is funded by the Royal Television Society's Shiers Trust Award.


Hosted by Annika Allen Gray (@annikaallen) and produced by Leanne Alie (@leannealie).

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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