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A new warts-and-all drama by Sir Lenny Henry gives a frank and often disturbing account of life in Britain for the Caribbean immigrants who followed Windrush.<\/p>\n
The Comic Relief legend, now celebrating 50 years on our screens, was inspired to write Three Little Birds by his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all the stories of Mum and her sister and best mate coming to Britain, 10 years after Windrush,\u201d revealed Sir Lenny.<\/p>\n
The six-part drama, beginning on ITV tomorrow, will be complemented by a documentary on Thursday charting Lenny\u2019s rise from obscurity in the West Midlands to national comedy treasure.<\/p>\n
Household names, including David Tennant, Ben Elton, Alesha Dixon, Richard Curtis and Sir Trevor McDonald, comment on his 50 years in the spotlight.<\/p>\n
And Hollywood superstar Whoopi Goldberg champions the man she declares \u201ca real-life superhero\u201d.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: <\/strong> Lenny Henry shared real reason behind Dawn French split after 25 \u2018happy\u2019 years<\/strong><\/p>\n In the new drama, Sir Lenny admits he doesn\u2019t pull any punches on how the new arrivals were treated: \u201cThese are tales about migrants arriving on boats, becoming embroiled in this supposed motherland where work is meant to be better.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, on arrival, they discover the day-to-day of dealing with life is difficult.<\/p>\n \u201cMy brothers would tell stories about how they\u2019d have to walk around in pairs because you\u2019d get attacked in the streets.<\/p>\n \u201cA lady told me about people touching her hair on the bus and asking her what part of Africa she was from. But at the same time there were acts of kindness from unexpected quarters. There was immense joy, a bustling, multi-cultural life, of a community doing its best to unite.\u201d<\/p>\n He reveals he had help from Doctor Who writer Russell T Davies: \u201cThe stories were very much me vomiting out what I wanted to write, and Russell helping me organise my thoughts for the first episode.<\/p>\n Don’t miss… <\/strong> \u201cFrom that I went away and wrote a script. And then, suddenly, ITV just said, \u2018We want to do it straight away\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Sir Lenny said his mother inspired the main character of Leah: \u201cThe spirit of my mum lives in Leah (Rochelle Neil), who is like John Wayne but in a skirt.<\/p>\n \u201cShe doesn\u2019t take any crap from anyone and knows her stuff. She will fight for her friends and her family.<\/p>\n \u201cChantrelle (Saffron Coomber) is the flighty clown who wants to be a movie star, that\u2019s her motivation for leaving Jamaica. When she gets here, she realises there are no movies for a good-looking person who can recite plays but happens to be black in 1957.\u201d<\/p>\n Much of the theme, said Sir Lenny, is the \u201ccelebration\u201d of dealing with adversity.<\/p>\n He adds: \u201cYou really do feel the struggle. I think it\u2019s going to take people on an amazing ride.\u201d<\/p>\n
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