An increasing number of incredible authors are making the leap to screenwriting big TV shows. Think Queenie – the story of a 25-year-old Jamaican livewire by Candice Carty-Williams – and Sally Rooney’s Normal People, the coming-of-age stories are being adapted in their droves and we are totally here for it.
Joining the ranks is New York Times bestseller and British-Nigerian writer Bolu Bablola’s comedy pilot Big Age, which is set to take inspiration from everything we were obsessed with on Fleabag and I May Destroy You, and much, much more.
It sounds like the project is super personal to Bolu, and could be extra magical as a result. “To be able to breathe life into my dream like this is a blessing,” Bolu wrote in an Instagram post when the TV show was announced earlier this year.
“Big Age is a celebration of friendship, ambition with heart, and the connections that propel us forward in newly formulating adulthood,” she added in a statement.
Here’s everything we know about Big Age…
What’s Big Age about?
Running with the Nigerian saying “at your big age”, the show is set to look at how a group of young, Black-British friends navigate being in their mid 20s and the pressure that age has on you.
In an interview with Refinery29, Bolu called your mid 20s “almost like a new adolescence”. “You’re discovering new things about yourself and you’re finding your voice and you’re figuring out who you are as an adult; what you really want and what you really desire in relationships and career just generally,” she says. “It is almost like an existential epoch in your life. ”
The plot itself follows protagonist Sadé, who has aspirations to be a successful writer and is above all “unashamedly ambitious, fierce but has moments of spiralling (yet hilarious) insecurity” (all of us then, basically).
It’s also a love letter to friendship though, and Sadé is joined by a trio of pals, including sexually-liberated artist Dela, Zeke (an unrequited love for Sadé) and dry-humoured voice of reason Tayo as they go through the timeless trials and tribulations of “growing up” in your 20s.
Who’s in the Big Age cast?
Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo (of Alex Rider and Been So Long fame) plays Sadé, while TV show Sliced’s Racheal Ofori will portray Dela. Michael Workeye will play love interest Zeke and CJ Beckford will bring the character of Tayo to life, both actors having appeared in Sitting In Limbo, a TV movie about the Windrush immigration scandal.
When is Big Age airing?
On Thursday, Sept 10 on Channel 4 as part of the broadcaster’s Black to Front day, where the entire programming schedule will be fronted by Black talent.
It will just be a pilot episode initially, and the synopsis is as follows: “Sade’s 25th birthday gets off to a rocky start when she quits her job. So her best friend prescribes a day of decadent distraction. ” There is no word yet on when/if an entire sitcom series will follow. Watch this space.
Is there a trailer for Big Age?
Not yet, no. You may have to tune in to find out more about it!
