Ellis star Sharon D Clarke: 'Meeting real-life Black DI was a blessing'
Ellis's leading star reveals how meeting Merseyside's first Black female DI prepared her for the role.
In preparation for her starring role in Channel 5's Ellis, Sharon D Clarke has revealed that she actually met a real-life Black female DI in order to learn about her experiences working in the police.
At a screening for the new drama, Clarke shared more about preparing for the role as DI, and said: "[Irene Afful] was a gift and a joy and a blessing, just what she’d been through – how she’d had to climb up through the ranks, how she was left alone, how she’d be pushed to the side and they’d say, 'Well, you know, it’s for your safety,' but she was a black belt.
"It was just really insightful to hear it from someone who’d gone through it. It wasn’t like we’re trying to make this story real, no. She’d lived this life, so it was just – any nugget, any gem she could give us, I just soaked it all up and tried to put it into Ellis."
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other press, Clarke also shared more about meeting Afful, and said: "She was the first Black female DI in Merseyside, and I probably had a two and a half hour Zoom with her, we just chatted.
"She just told me her experiences of joining the force, how she joined, and the two detectives that kind of championed her who thought she should be a DI and helped her through it.
"She'd had lots of racism before that, but hanging on in there, knowing that being within the institution she could make a difference for her and her community."
But what was the most important thing Clarke learned from her? She revealed: "Steely grit. When you see her, she’s tiny. [But] she’s got a black belt in Judo, she knows how to take care of herself."
She added: "It was taking that steely grit and her humour, actually, being able to look at it 25 years on and the madness that happened, just having some humour about it as well."
The new detective drama only comprises of three episodes, but are all feature-length and follow Ellis and her right-hand man DS Harper (Andrew Gower), who are sent to various towns in the UK in order to help their struggling investigations.
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As per the series synopsis: "As a Black female cop, Ellis is used to being dismissed and overlooked, but she is a first-class murder detective, with a determination for justice and a deep well of compassion for those who need it."
The series is written by Paul Logue (known for his work on Shetland and Vera) and Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre, who most recently adapted Agatha Christie's Murder Is Easy for the BBC.
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Speaking about the opportunity to write a Black female-led detective show, Ejiwunmi-Le Berre also told RadioTimes.com and other press at a screening for the series that it was simply too "irresistible" to pass on.
She said: "Well, I gathered from Company and Channel 5 that they wanted to make a new detective series, feature-length episodes, with a Black woman detective of a certain age at the helm.
"It’s so unusual to have new shows, particularly detective procedural shows, that aren’t some kind of adaptation and is original IP, so the opportunity to make a whole human being, and a really clever one, is just irresistible.
"It was their idea, but one that I jumped on."
Ellis will begin airing at 8pm on Thursday 31st October on Channel 5.
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