Cush Jumbo, Genevieve Nnaji Join BBC's Wahala
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Cush Jumbo, Adelayo Adedayo, Deborah Ayorinde and Susan Wokoma lead the cast of BBC's Wahala, an adaptation of Nikki May's novel, with Jumbo, Adedayo and Wokoma playing best friends Simi, Boo and Ronke and Ayorinde as the wealthy disruptor Isobel.
- Theresa Ikoko, who co-wrote BAFTA-nominated coming-of-age drama Rocks, directs and adapts Wahala; her prior credits also include writing on HBO/Channel 4's BAFTA-nominated Get Millie Black.
- Nigerian screen icon Genevieve Nnaji joins the four leads, rounding out a cast centered on Nigerian-British women navigating careers, love and family in present-day London.
- BBC Drama Director Lindsay Salt called Ikoko's scripts 'riveting, full of rich and complex characters' and credited the material with attracting the cast's calibre.
- Nawfal Faizullah executive produces for the BBC alongside Elizabeth Kilgarriff and Craig Holleworth for Firebird Pictures and Ikoko, with directing duties shared by Ikoko, Leonora Lonsdale and Remi Weekes, and BBC Studios handling global sales.
Why it matters: The casting signals BBC's continued investment in prestige adaptations with predominantly Black British ensemble casts, pairing a Booker-longlisted source novel (May's debut) with the writer-director of one of Britain's most acclaimed recent coming-of-age films. For Firebird Pictures and BBC Studios, locking in a Nnaji cameo alongside three rising UK leads gives the package international sales appeal in both African and diaspora markets.
