''Black Ops'' is a British television comedy series made for

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

starring Hammed Animashaun,

Gbemisola Ikumelo Gbemisola Ikumelo is a British actress, comedian and writer. She has won a BAFTA award for her short ''Brain in Gear'' and best female comedy performance from the Royal Television Society for her role in her show ''Famalam''. Life and career Ikum ...

and

Akemnji Ndifornyen Akemnji Ndifornyen is a British actor, writer, composer and producer, known for the BBC series ''Leonardo'' as a young Niccolò Machiavelli, as well as appearing in the BBC soap opera ''Doctors'' as Nathan Bailey from 2004 to 2005. In 2019, he ...

. The latter two also being co-creators, writers and executive producers. The first series aired in May 2023. A second series was commissioned in August 2023.

Synopsis

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

, Dom and Kay are two

police community support officer A police community support officer (PCSO; cy, swyddog cymorth cymunedol yr heddlu, SCCH), or as written in legislation community support officer (CSO; cy, swyddog cymorth cymunedol, SCC) is a uniformed member of police staff in England and Wal ...

s who join the Greater London Police and find themselves working undercover.

Cast

as Dom * Hammed Animashaun as Kay *

as Tevin *

Ariyon Bakare Ariyon Bakare () is an English actor. He has appeared in the BBC soap opera ''Doctors'' (2001–2005) as Ben Kwarme, the Amazon Prime series ''Good Omens'' and ''Carnival Row'' (2019), and the BBC series ''His Dark Materials''. Prior to this, ...

as Detective Inspector Clinton Blair *

Felicity Montagu Felicity Jane Montagu (born 12 September 1960) is an English actress. She is best known for playing Lynn Benfield, the long-suffering assistant of Alan Partridge. Early life Montagu was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, to Lieutenant-Co ...

as Superintendent Edwards *

Colin Hoult Colin Hoult (born 15 May 1979) is an English actor and writer in television, radio, and theatre. He studied at Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre. Career Hoult has worked in various television productions, including ''Russell Howard's ...

as Officer Price *

Robbie Gee Robbie Gee (born 24 March 1970) is a British actor, best known for his ''Desmond's'' character "Lee Stanley", for appearing in Guy Ritchie's crime caper '' Snatch'', and for his comedy roles in TV series like ''The Real McCoy'' and ''The Crouc ...

as Morris *

Jo Martin Jo Martin (born 29 April) is a British actress. She played Natalie Crouch in the BBC One sitcom ''The Crouches'', which aired between 2003 and 2005. She joined the cast of ''Holby City'' in 2019 as neurosurgeon Max McGerry. Martin portrayed an ...

as Julie * Karlina Grace-Paseda as Elder Bunmi * Jaz Hutchins as Breeze *

Joanna Scanlan Joanna Marion Scanlan (born 27 October 1961) is a British actress. On television, she is known for her roles in British series such as ''The Thick of It'' (2005–2012), '' Getting On'' (2009–2012), ''Puppy Love'' (2014), and ''No Offence'' ( ...

as Chief Inspector Garner * Rufus Jones as Inspector Scholes *

Emma Sidi Emma Francesca Sidi (born February 1991) is an English actress, comedian and writer for radio, stage and screen. Early life Sidi was born to British parents in the United States, where her father, who had previously played professional rugby ...

as Marsh Ranger *

Marek Larwood Marek Ryan Larwood (born 2 June 1976) is an English comedian and actor. He is best known for the BBC Three sketch show ''Rush Hour'' and for being one third of the comedy trio ''We Are Klang''. Early life Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Larwood lived ...

as Police Officer *

Zoe Wanamaker Zoe (also ZOE, Zoë, Zoé, etc.) can refer to: *ζωή (''zōḗ''), the Ancient Greek word for "life" People * Zoe (name), including list of persons and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Zoe'' (film) * ZOE Broadcast ...

as Celia Herrington *

Alex MacQueen Alexander Tulloch Macqueen (born 30 November 1973) is an English actor. He has appeared on television, film and radio in the UK in productions such as ''Holby City'', ''Doctor Who,'' ''Hut 33'', ''Peep Show'', ''The Thick of It'', ''Keeping Mu ...

as Marcus * Katherine Kelly as Kirsty * Lucy Thackeray as Linda

Episodes

Series 1 (2023)

Production

In August 2021 the BBC confirmed that the six-part

comedy thriller Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy and thrillers. Criteria They often include a darker tone, relative to other genres, of humor. List of comedy thriller films * '' The Big Fix'' (1978) * ''Charad ...

series would be produced by

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...

and Mondo Deluxe for

and

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available on a wide range of devices, including mobile phones and tablets, personal computers and smart televisions. iPlayer services del ...

. The creators were announced as

Joe Tucker Joe Tucker is a British comedy writer, director and animator known for directing and co-writing the award-winning short film '' For the Love of God''. He has also directed a number of music videos for Hot Club de Paris and, together with Lloyd W ...

, and

Lloyd Woolf Lloyd Woolf (born 1981) is a British comedy actor and writer. Personal life Woolf was born in 1981 in Swansea, and grew up in the Swansea Valley town of Pontardawe. After graduating with an English degree from Cambridge University, Woolf moved to ...

; the show was commissioned by Tanya Qureshi with Akemnji Ndifornyen as producer and Josh Cole as executive producer. The series is directed by Ben Gregor. Said to be both a comedy and a thriller, Ikuelmo told ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'' that "I love that the lines have become so muddied. When it's dark, it's really dark and when it's comedic, it's really funny, and I love mixing the two and bending genres." In August 2023, it was commissioned for a second series.

Casting

Hammed Animashaun, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen are set to star in the series. The cast also includes Ariyon Bakare, Joanna Scanlan, Robbie Gee, Jo Martin, and Felicity Montagu.

Filming

Filming began in June 2022 in

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

. Filming also took place in

Waltham Forest The London Borough of Waltham Forest () is a London borough in north-east London, England. Its population is estimated to be 276,983 in 2019. It borders five other London boroughs: Enfield to the north-west, Haringey to the west, Hackney to t ...

Music

Music for the show was completed by Lindsay Wright and

Tawiah Tawiah (pronounced Taa-We-Ah) is a British alternative-soul singer and songwriter based in London. Early life Tawiah was born to Ghanaian parents in Battersea, South West London, where she grew up with her two brothers on the 18th floor of ...

Broadcast

''Black Ops'' debuted in the UK on

on 5 May 2023 at 9:30 pm with episodes airing weekly and being available immediately on

Reception

Critical reception

Opinions about the first series were favourable overall despite many reviewers' initial reservations about finding humour in police racism and gang violence. The highest acclaim came from Rachel Aroesti of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

,'' who gave the show five stars, calling it "pitch-perfect, star-packed joy" and that "''Black Ops'' merges broad comedy with bent copper crime drama to hilarious and nail-biting effect". Benji Wilson of the ''

Daily Telegraph Daily or The Daily may refer to: Journalism * Daily newspaper, newspaper issued on five to seven day of most weeks * ''The Daily'' (podcast), a podcast by ''The New York Times'' * ''The Daily'' (News Corporation), a defunct US-based iPad new ...

'' awarded the show four stars and stated the series "gets it all rather joyously right" with the "a terrific pairing" in the lead roles who "ace it". Vicky Jessop writing for The ''

Evening Standard The ''Evening Standard'', formerly ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), also known as the ''London Evening Standard'', is a local free daily newspaper in London, England, published Monday to Friday in tabloid format. In October 2009, after be ...

'' gave ''Black Ops'' a three star review, opining that the "campy, farcical tone works in some areas ut notin others" but "you can forgive it almost anything because, for the most part, this show is funny" and "there are more than enough gags to compensate". Three star reviews were also awarded by Nick Hilton of ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' and Dan Einav of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

,'' the former stating that "despite a clever title" the "police sitcom is charming enough, but it lacks bite."

Accolades

Tawiah & Lindsay Wright were nominated in the Best Music Original Score - Scripted category at the 2023

Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards The Royal Television Academy Craft & Design Awards, often referred to as RTS Craft & Design Awards, are given annually by the Royal Television Society to recognize the "huge variety of skills and processes involved in programme production". The aw ...

References

External links

* *
Black Ops
' at

BBC Online BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...

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