Black Ops (TV series)

Black Ops is a British television comedy series made for BBC One starring Hammed Animashaun, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen. 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
In East London, Dom and Kay are two police community support officers who join the Greater London Police and find themselves working undercover.

Cast

 * Gbemisola Ikumelo as Dom
 * Hammed Animashaun as Kay
 * Akemnji Ndifornyen as Tevin
 * Ariyon Bakare as Detective Inspector Clinton Blair
 * Felicity Montagu as Superintendent Edwards
 * Colin Hoult as Officer Price
 * Robbie Gee as Morris
 * Jo Martin as Julie
 * Karlina Grace-Paseda as Elder Bunmi
 * Jaz Hutchins as Breeze
 * Joanna Scanlan as Chief Inspector Garner
 * Rufus Jones as Inspector Scholes
 * Emma Sidi as Marsh Ranger
 * Marek Larwood as Police Officer
 * Zoe Wanamaker as Celia Herrington
 * Alex MacQueen as Marcus
 * Katherine Kelly as Kirsty
 * Lucy Thackeray as Linda

Production
In August 2021 the BBC confirmed that the six-part comedy thriller series would be produced by BBC Studios and Mondo Deluxe for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The creators were announced as Gbemisola Ikumelo, Akemnji Ndifornyen, Joe Tucker, and Lloyd Woolf; 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 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. Filming also took place in Waltham Forest.

Music
Music for the show was completed by Lindsay Wright and Tawiah.

Broadcast
Black Ops debuted in the UK on BBC One on 5 May 2023 at 9:30 pm with episodes airing weekly and being available immediately on BBC iPlayer.

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, 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 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 gave Black Ops a three star review, opining that the "campy, farcical tone works in some areas [but not] in 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 and Dan Einav of the Financial Times, 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. In February 2024, the series won at the Broadcast Awards in the Best Comedy Programme category.

The series received four nominations at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards in March 2024. Joe Tucker, Lloyd Wolf, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen for Best Comwedy Writing, as well as the series being nominated for Best Scripted Comedy. The two lead actors were winners in the Best Comedy Performance categories.

In March 2024, Ikumelo was nominated in the Female performance in a comedy programme category at the 2024 British Academy Television Awards. Additionally, Animashaun was nominated for Male performance in a comedy programme.