EastEnders actor Malachi Kirby who is Steve McQueen’s new muse has claimed UK TV and film producers are too politically correct for turning down ideas they deem won’t appeal to black people.
The 31-year-old, who grew up on a council estate in Battersea, south London, told The Times that the presumption it matters to black or Asian people to see people of colour in films is ‘narrow-minded’.
Malachi, who played Wayne Ladlow for eight episodes of the soap in 2014 before landing a coveted role in the remake of the American miniseries Roots in 2016, stars in Mangrove, the hotly-anticipated first installment from McQueen’s Small Axe collection of films for the BBC.
Mangrove tells the true story of the Mangrove Nine, the group of black activists who clashed with London police during a protest march in Notting Hill in 1970.
EastEnders actor Malachi Kirby (pictured in April last year) who is Steve McQueen’s new muse has claimed UK TV and film producers are too politically correct for turning down ideas they deem won’t appeal to black people
Malachi played Wayne Ladlow for eight episodes of EastEnders in 2014. Pictured alongside actress Maddy Hill, who played his on-screen lover Nancy
But Malachi – who admitted to having never heard of the Mangrove before he was cast in the role of activist Darcus Howe in the gritty British drama – sees his career blossoming in America, due to what he deems a tendency among UK film execs to ‘play it safe’.
He told the publication he believes some are too quick to turn down ideas because they suspect they won’t appeal to black people – whereas Hollywood is less weighed down by assumptions about class and race.
‘For me it doesn’t make sense because the majority of the shows that I’ve related to and enjoyed didn’t have people that looked like me in them,’ Malachi said.
‘The idea that suddenly colour [watching characters of colour in films] matters when you are black or Asian is narrow-minded.
The Mangrove Nine’s name derived from the restaurant in Notting Hill, owned by Frank Crichlow, a well known figure in the black community, which was a hub of black culture
Howe and eight others – dubbed The Mangrove Nine – were charged with riot, affray and assault before his eventual acquittal (pictured: the BBC retelling)
‘Thats not so much of a thing in the States. You see it even in popcorn films, the Marvel films and the blockbusters that are complete fantasy.
Who was Darcus Howe and what was his role in the Mangrove Nine?
Darcus Howe was a civil rights campaigner and broadcaster who campaigned for black rights for more than 50 years.
The father-of-six was originally from Trinidad, where he was born on February 26 1943 in the dying days of the British Empire.
The son of a vicar and schoolteacher, he moved to the UK in 1961 to study Law.
He joined the British Black Panthers, established in solidarity with the more well-known American organisation.
Howe came to public attention in 1970 as a member of the Mangrove Nine, who marched on Notting Hill police station to protest against a raid on the local Mangrove restaurant.
The restaurant was a hub of black culture and was raided a dozen times by the Metropolitan Police resulting in pitched battles between the officers and protesters.
Howe and eight others – dubbed The Mangrove Nine – were charged with riot, affray and assault before his eventual acquittal.
The group successfully challenged racism in the police during a trial at the Old Bailey in the early 1970s.
He led the 1981 Black People’s March after the New Cross fire in which 13 black teenagers died.
Howe, who lived in Brixton for more than 30 years, edited the magazine Race Today and was once chairman of the Notting Hill Carnival.
Howe began appearing on television in the 1980s when he presented shows for the BBC and Channel 4.
He explored the idea of Englishness in a controversial 2003 documentary series called White Tribe.
In 2009, Howe wrote in The Guardian about being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
‘Long live the NHS,’ he said. ‘The campaign to persuade black men to get tested for prostate cancer starts here.’
He died ‘peacefully in his sleep’ at the age of 74 at his home in Streatham in April 2017, leaving behind his wife Leila Hassan, 72.
‘That’s telling of the mindset over there.’
Mangrove – the first of five films that make up the Small Axe series – couldn’t be more topical in the wake of the recent Black Lives Matter protests.
The Mangrove Nine’s name derived from the restaurant in Notting Hill, owned by Frank Crichlow, a well known figure in the black community, which was a hub of black culture.
It was raided a dozen times by the Metropolitan Police, resulting in pitched battles between the officers and protesters.
Howe and eight others – dubbed The Mangrove Nine – were charged with riot, affray and assault before his eventual acquittal.
The group successfully challenged racism in the Met police during a prolonged trial at the Old Bailey in the early 1970s.
The trial helped launch Trinidadian-born Howe’s career as a prominent campaigner on race and policing.
Malachi confessed he had ‘no awareness at all’ of the Mangrove case, but was ‘excited to learn about it’ and ‘share it with people’.
He told how he was put through his paces throughout the casting period – he did three auditions before he secured the role of Howe – and filming, and quickly became accustomed to how the inherently political director works.
‘One of the first things Steve said to me was “Grenfell”,’ Malachi recalled. ‘I thought, OK.
‘In my mind, the film had nothing to do with Grenfell, but then I realised, “Oh it does, because it was happening in the same area.”
‘Steve was asking me things like, “Where were you when it was happening? How did it affect you?”
‘It was a very quick way of learning how he works, about being aware of something outside of yourself. I love that about him.’
Malachi, who lost his father – a Rastafarian mechanic and welder – when he was six, told how he was a quiet child, to the point where his mother sent him for speech lessons.
He attended a Catholic state school in Battersea but his passion for performing came from theatre classes at the local Battersea Arts Centre.
Malachi’s humble origins help keep him grounded and he keeps a relatively profile, especially when it comes to social media, refusing to be sucked into having a ‘fashionable mindset’ on the platform.
He told The Times he is in a relationship ‘with God’, having joined a Christian fellowship in east London.
Small Axe: Mangrove airs on BBC One on Sunday, November 15.
Darcus Howe was a civil rights campaigner and broadcaster who campaigned for black rights for more than 50 years. The father-of-six was originally from Trinidad, where he was born on February 26 1943 in the dying days of the British Empire. Howe began appearing on television in the 1980s when he presented shows for the BBC and Channel 4
Howe, pictured with Selwyn Baptiste (Notting Hill Carnival director), died ‘peacefully in his sleep’ at the age of 74 at his home in Streatham in April 2017, leaving behind his wife Leila Hassan, 72read more
EastEnders’ Malachi Kirby is set for his big break in Steve McQueen’s new series of films
