The BBC Releases First Images from Netflix Co-Production 'Champion'

Netflix's next co-production with the BBC will bring the Champions to life and introduce them to American audiences. The series Champion, from Queenie author Candice Carty-Williams, was part of the BBC's announcement of a plethora of diverse voice projects announced back in May 2021. Those projects, headlined at the time by deals for Michaela Coel and Shane Meadows, have resulted in multiple series, from Dolly Alderson's adaptation of Everything I Know About Love to Skint Estate author Cash Carraway's original series Rain Dogs, starring Daisy May Cooper.

Carty-Williams's series, an original story not based on her prior best sellers, was billed at the time as a drama "love letter to Black British music set in south London." The script and cast were enough to bring Netflix aboard as a co-producer in June 2022. Filming started a month later in Birmingham in July 2022 and wrapped in the fall. Since then, there's been little in the way of news, but with the BBC's reveal of First Look photos ahead of a planned release later in 2023, fans can finally get a look at the series. 

The series is a musical drama, and the first pictures confirm there will be lots of singing, with multiple characters shown crooning their hearts out.

Here's the series synopsis:

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, 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.

The series is headlined by TV newcomer Déja J Bowens as Vita, alongside Malcolm Kamulete (Top Boy) as Bosco. The series also features British pop singer Ray BLK as Vita’s best friend, Honey. Nadine Marshall (Sherwood) and Ray Fearon (His Dark Materials) co-star as Bosco and Vita’s parents, Aria and Beres Champion, with Jo Martin (Doctor Who) as Bosco’s manager, Dawn. The series features a full original music soundtrack, with Ray BLK serving as the series’ Music Executive alongside grime pioneer Ghetts.

The series also co-stars Kerim Hassan (Once Upon a Time in London), Adeyinka Akinrinade (Everything I Know About Love), Tom Forbes (Wolf Hall), Genesis Lynea (Shadow and Bone), Karl Collins (Attack The Block), Francis Lovehall (Small Axe), Corey Weekes (Coronation Street) and Rachel Adedeji (Dreaming Whilst Black). Carty-Williams wrote all eight scripts with Ameir Brown, Isis Davis, Emma Dennis-Edwards, and Edem Wornoo. Directors John Ogunmuyiwa, Adeyemi Michael, Christiana Ebohon-Green, and Caleb Femi split helming duties.

The series is produced by Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor and Candice Carty-Williams, with Bryan Elsley, Dave Evans, and Danielle Scott-Haughton for Balloon Entertainment, Charlie Pattinson, Willow Grylls, and Imogen O’Sullivan for New Pictures, Jo McClellan for the BBC, and Alice Pearse and Tom Lyons for Netflix.

Champion does not yet have a release date but is expected to debut on the BBC and Netflix sometime in 2023.