Gbemisola Ikumelo, Hammed Animashaun and Akemnji Ndifornyen to lead Black Ops

BAFTA award winning actor and writer Gbemisola Ikumelo (Famalam, A League of Their Own), Hammed Animashaun (Black Mirror, The Wheel of Time) and BAFTA award winning actor and producer Akemnji Ndifornyen (Famalam, The Queen’s Gambit) are set to star in high-concept comedy thriller, Black Ops, produced by BBC Studios Comedy Productions and Mondo Deluxe for BBC One and BBC iPlayer.

BAFTA award winning actor and writer Gbemisola Ikumelo (Brain in Gear, A League of Their Own), Hammed Animashaun (Black Mirror, The Wheel of Time) and BAFTA award winning actor and producer Akemnji Ndifornyen (Famalam, The Queen’s Gambit) are announced as the leads in a new high-concept comedy thriller, Black Ops.

The six part thriller is being produced by BBC Studios Comedy Productions and Mondo Deluxe for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Set in East London, Black Ops is the story of Dom and Kay, two Police Community Support Officers who join the Met Police in the hope of cleaning up their community but are unwittingly thrust into the murky world of deep cover infiltration. For Dom and Kay their lives quickly become more of a fiasco than Donnie Brasco.

Dom, played by Ikumelo, is feisty and takes no nonsense while Animashaun plays Kay her naïve, but surprisingly capable partner who lives with his church elder. The pair are soon thrust into a high stakes secret mission where they find themselves out of their depth facing one of the leaders of the Brightmarsh gang, Tevin, played by Ndifornyen.

Gbemisola Ikumelo, Executive Producer, Co-Creator, Writer and Actor commented: “It’s great to be working with Akemnji again after Famalam and Hammed is such a funny, brilliant, generous actor. I’m chomping at the bits to get started.”

Hammed Animashaun, Actor, commented: “I’m so so excited to be a part of the Black Ops family! I’ve been a huge fan of AK and Gbemi and to be working alongside both of them, is an absolute honour! I can’t wait for everyone to see what we’ve been up to!''

Josh Cole, Executive Producer and Head of Comedy, BBC Studios, commented: “Black Ops is an ambitious comedy thriller that defies traditional genre expectations. The scripts are gripping and hilarious, and we’re delighted to have Gbemi, Hammed & AK leading our talented cast”.

Akemnji Ndifornyen, Executive Producer, Co-Creator, Writer and Actor commented: “Cat’s finally out the bag… This has been an incredible labour of love. We’ve got a brilliant cast and crew and I’m so excited to get going. Let the games begin!”

Filming is now underway with further casting set to be announced in due course. Black Ops is set to launch next year on BBC One and iPlayer.

Black Ops (6x30) is a BBC Studios Comedy Production, co-produced with Mondo Deluxe. It is created and executive produced by Gbemisola Ikumelo, Akemnji Ndifornyen (Famalam) and co-written and executive produced by Joe Tucker (Witless) and Lloyd Woolf (Witless). Josh Cole is the Executive Producer for BBC Studios Productions. The series is directed by Ben Gregor (Bloods, Cuckoo). The Commissioning Editors for the BBC are Gregor Sharp and Seb Barwell. BBC Studios is the international distributor for the series.

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BBC Studios is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC Group with profits (EBITDA) of £226 million on sales of £1.6bn (21/22). Able to take an idea seamlessly from thought to screen and beyond, its activities span content financing, development, production, sales, branded services, and ancillaries across both its own productions, and programmes and formats made by high-quality UK independents, with three-quarters of its revenues from non-BBC customers including Discovery, Apple and Netflix. Around 2,400 hours of award-winning British programmes made by the business are internationally recognised across a broad range of genres and specialisms, with brands like Strictly Come Dancing/Dancing with the Stars, Top Gear, Bluey and Doctor Who. BBC.com, BBC Studios’ global digital news platform, has 139 million unique browser visits each month.

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