0:00:02 > 0:00:04When I heard the name Black Is The New Black, it really made me smile.
0:00:04 > 0:00:06I think we're on the edge of a revolution.
0:00:06 > 0:00:07Boom!
0:00:07 > 0:00:11We have our own thing, and it's really rich.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13This programme contains some strong language.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16We're the influencers, the taste makers.
0:00:16 > 0:00:18Remember when we invented jazz and you didn't know what it was?
0:00:18 > 0:00:21Well, now we're going to do something else.
0:00:21 > 0:00:24I've never really seen myself as an immigrant.
0:00:24 > 0:00:25I see myself as a person.
0:00:27 > 0:00:29I'm proud to be black.
0:00:29 > 0:00:31I've never cared to be any other way.
0:00:31 > 0:00:33CAMERA CLICKS
0:00:33 > 0:00:34Everyone wants to be us,
0:00:34 > 0:00:37but they only want the good parts of being us.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40They want our physicality, they want our musicality.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42Selling our culture, it's like one big hustle.
0:00:44 > 0:00:46They want our talent, they want our dancing skills,
0:00:46 > 0:00:47they want our singing skills.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49Music hasn't got no colour.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52The oppressed always find a way to celebrate, right?
0:00:53 > 0:00:55It's a great feeling.
0:00:55 > 0:01:01We are people of talent, people of vision, people of passion.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05There is a great seam of British success...
0:01:07 > 0:01:10..and when it stands out, it is dazzling.
0:01:12 > 0:01:14And we should celebrate it.
0:01:14 > 0:01:16We should celebrate it.
0:01:41 > 0:01:47There is a formula for white success.
0:01:47 > 0:01:50It's a well-trodden path. You see it everyday,
0:01:50 > 0:01:55but there isn't one for black success, and when it stands out,
0:01:55 > 0:01:57it is dazzling.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07I'm a former international athlete and I have won a gold medal.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10I'm the Member of Parliament for Streatham.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Am I successful?
0:02:12 > 0:02:13At the end of the day,
0:02:13 > 0:02:17it takes years to become an overnight success, you know.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22I invented this operation to save women from dying from childbirth.
0:02:22 > 0:02:24I became the first black woman
0:02:24 > 0:02:27to become one of Her Majesty's Queen's Counsel.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32I have written, like, 69-odd books, I am working on my 70th one.
0:02:32 > 0:02:38My operation has been used over two million times on patients.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41Over two million women's lives have been saved.
0:02:41 > 0:02:46SBTV started when I was 15, zero views.
0:02:46 > 0:02:48Now I've got 400 million views.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51As a child, if there had been a black female presenter
0:02:51 > 0:02:53on The Sky At Night,
0:02:53 > 0:02:56I mean, I would have worshipped the very ground she walked on.
0:02:58 > 0:02:59I'm not just a rapper,
0:02:59 > 0:03:03I've got the most number ones of the decade in this country.
0:03:03 > 0:03:08I think I was the youngest person ever to take silk at that stage,
0:03:08 > 0:03:10other than Pitt the Younger.
0:03:10 > 0:03:12I've run with the Olympic torch...
0:03:12 > 0:03:14What else is there?
0:03:14 > 0:03:18And he had become an HONORARY silk when he was 21,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21because he became the Prime Minister,
0:03:21 > 0:03:22so I reckon he cheated.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26We run things. Things don't run we.
0:03:28 > 0:03:31You know when you say, "Reel off your achievements," yeah?
0:03:31 > 0:03:33I know there's ones I've missed, which I'll probably like...
0:03:33 > 0:03:34"Oh, my God, how can you miss that?"
0:03:34 > 0:03:38Can I send it over to you and you can put it on text on the screen?
0:03:44 > 0:03:49I won New Faces in 1975 and it was lovely.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Suddenly, I was being seen by 16 million people,
0:03:51 > 0:03:54everybody knew I was that black kid from Dudley who did impressions.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59And Michael Grade rang my agent and said,
0:03:59 > 0:04:02"Let's have a meeting." And he showed me a videotape
0:04:02 > 0:04:04and the show was called Good Times.
0:04:04 > 0:04:06Michael Grade, when it got to the end, said,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09"Do you think you'd want to be in a British version of this?"
0:04:09 > 0:04:11And I said, "Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"
0:04:13 > 0:04:15What I didn't realise...
0:04:17 > 0:04:21..is that the status quo of the industry at the time
0:04:21 > 0:04:23meant that there would be nobody of colour
0:04:23 > 0:04:25involved in that production at all.
0:04:27 > 0:04:32No writers, no directors, no producers or associate producers.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35The make-up lady was mixed race, but that was it.
0:04:39 > 0:04:41The rule of twos, the rule of twos.
0:04:41 > 0:04:43I call it the nightclub policy.
0:04:43 > 0:04:46One in, one out.
0:04:46 > 0:04:47That's what I call it.
0:04:47 > 0:04:50When I'm at home, watching TV with my partner,
0:04:50 > 0:04:52we always make a little joke whenever they, I don't know,
0:04:52 > 0:04:54show the contestants of a new show
0:04:54 > 0:04:57and you always get the one black girl and one black guy,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59and we're like, "Oh, they've got the token ones in there,"
0:04:59 > 0:05:00and we make a joke of it,
0:05:00 > 0:05:04but at that heart of that joke is frustration, because...
0:05:04 > 0:05:07why does it have to be so calculated?
0:05:07 > 0:05:09Why can't it just be more of a balance
0:05:09 > 0:05:13and a representation of what surrounds us in our own country?
0:05:14 > 0:05:19We are nowhere near balance, as far as I'm concerned.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22We're not.
0:05:22 > 0:05:23And don't think because
0:05:23 > 0:05:25I am sitting here, Naomi Campbell,
0:05:25 > 0:05:28after 30 years of modelling, that I don't hear this.
0:05:28 > 0:05:29I hear it all the time.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31They don't say to me, though,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34"because you're black," they say it in another way.
0:05:34 > 0:05:36"Oh, you're too strong. Oh, you're too famous."
0:05:36 > 0:05:39Now it's that one. And it's like, "Please..."
0:05:40 > 0:05:43There was a photograph that I saw
0:05:43 > 0:05:46of Naomi Campbell and Jourdan Dunn together.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48For me, it was so powerful,
0:05:48 > 0:05:51seeing two beautiful black women fronting Burberry.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54And I had to stop and take a photograph of it,
0:05:54 > 0:05:55because it's rare.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58Doing the Burberry campaign did make me feel,
0:05:58 > 0:06:00"Well, I've finally been accepted in this country,"
0:06:00 > 0:06:02but a year after the campaign,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05I still feel like I'm not really quite sure.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08I used to do a joke about waiting for Lenny Henry to die,
0:06:08 > 0:06:10so that I could get on TV.
0:06:13 > 0:06:15I hate that joke. What is that joke?!
0:06:15 > 0:06:16There can be only one!
0:06:22 > 0:06:24I turned up for an interview
0:06:24 > 0:06:29at ITN and I was almost on the spot offered a job,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32and so I was immediately suspicious
0:06:32 > 0:06:35and I didn't accept it.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38Why did they want to employ me?
0:06:38 > 0:06:40Why did they...?
0:06:40 > 0:06:44They had not had a black reporter on television before and why me?
0:06:45 > 0:06:47Then I came back and I said...
0:06:47 > 0:06:52And this, on reflection, was rather bold of me then.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56I, kind of, made it very, very clear
0:06:56 > 0:07:02that I didn't want to be the token black person on ITV television.
0:07:03 > 0:07:08"I want to be able to do everything everybody else does."
0:07:08 > 0:07:11So, I was not going to do stories about immigrants,
0:07:11 > 0:07:16I was not going to do stories about problems in Brixton or Hackney.
0:07:16 > 0:07:20I wanted to be seen to do everything that my white colleagues did.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29I only ever wanted to be an actor.
0:07:29 > 0:07:30That's all I ever wanted to do.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34You know, by necessity, the other things happened.
0:07:34 > 0:07:35By necessity.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40I didn't get the roles I wanted, started writing.
0:07:40 > 0:07:43Someone didn't want to direct the sequel to my first film,
0:07:43 > 0:07:45so there was no film. So I had to direct it
0:07:45 > 0:07:47or there would have been nothing.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49I got robbed as a producer, so I was like,
0:07:49 > 0:07:51"I need to learn to produce, so that doesn't happen again."
0:07:51 > 0:07:53Everything has been by necessity.
0:07:53 > 0:07:55Nothing was because I wanted to do it, apart from acting.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58I would get auditions, the odd one or two auditions,
0:07:58 > 0:08:03and it would always be for Thug Number One or Crook Number Three.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05"Why do I need to play Crook Number Three?
0:08:05 > 0:08:07"Why can't I play Jim?"
0:08:07 > 0:08:09"Cos Jim's a white character."
0:08:09 > 0:08:12"Yeah, but why can't I do it? I could be called Jim."
0:08:17 > 0:08:20Hi, I'm Malorie Blackman and I'm an author.
0:08:20 > 0:08:22My first nine or ten books
0:08:22 > 0:08:25were for about nine or ten different publishers.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28And when editors would ask me, very politely,
0:08:28 > 0:08:30"How did I see my characters?"
0:08:30 > 0:08:31And I'd say, "Black."
0:08:31 > 0:08:34"But we already have a story that features a black family,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36"would you made if we mind them white?"
0:08:36 > 0:08:38And I sort of paused and I said,
0:08:38 > 0:08:42"Well, how many stories do you have that feature white characters?"
0:08:42 > 0:08:44And then it went quiet and they said, "OK,
0:08:44 > 0:08:46"would you mind if we made them Asian?"
0:08:46 > 0:08:48And I thought, "Yes, I do mind, actually,"
0:08:48 > 0:08:51cos that was actually a major part of the reason I started writing
0:08:51 > 0:08:53in the first place is, because there was such a dearth
0:08:53 > 0:08:55of black characters in children's books.
0:08:55 > 0:08:57You know, "Only black children
0:08:57 > 0:08:58"will buy books that have black characters."
0:08:58 > 0:09:01And I just thought, "That's not true -
0:09:01 > 0:09:03"if you engage a child with a story, they will read it.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06"It doesn't matter, the colour of the character."
0:09:07 > 0:09:11For me, it's so important that books were not just windows to the world,
0:09:11 > 0:09:12but they had to be mirrors as well.
0:09:12 > 0:09:16And I remember growing up and I never read a single book
0:09:16 > 0:09:18that featured a black child like me, not one.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27Myself and a colleague from UCL were invited on to Newsnight.
0:09:27 > 0:09:29So, that was the Bicep2, a large telescope,
0:09:29 > 0:09:33which looked as if it had discovered gravitational waves
0:09:33 > 0:09:35and something called cosmic inflation -
0:09:35 > 0:09:38two big milestones in science.
0:09:38 > 0:09:41My colleague was actually working on this Bicep2,
0:09:41 > 0:09:44and a rather acerbic piece was written in the Daily Mail
0:09:44 > 0:09:46the next day, and I think they described it
0:09:46 > 0:09:48as that the BBC were being very politically correct
0:09:48 > 0:09:51by bringing on two ethnic minority women
0:09:51 > 0:09:53to talk about the science of white men.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56Oh, dear. I was...
0:09:56 > 0:09:58That was just wrong on so many dimensions.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01I mean, for one thing, the idea that this science
0:10:01 > 0:10:05was just being done by white men was a ridiculous notion.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07I mean, teams of scientists all across the world
0:10:07 > 0:10:10are working on this. It was just sort of stirring.
0:10:10 > 0:10:11So, letters were written,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14and I do have a letter of apology from the Daily Mail,
0:10:14 > 0:10:16which I've hung up in my loo at home,
0:10:16 > 0:10:18because I think that's the best place for it.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23People frame you.
0:10:24 > 0:10:28People make up their understanding of who you are as you go along.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34If you're from a dominant group - male or white or straight -
0:10:34 > 0:10:37it's almost like you don't have a frame.
0:10:37 > 0:10:39You can be whatever you want.
0:10:39 > 0:10:41You can do whatever you want to do.
0:10:42 > 0:10:44So, if you're black, you have the choice
0:10:44 > 0:10:48of living in somebody else's frame or creating one for yourself.
0:10:48 > 0:10:51Once you understand that, it's a very liberating thing.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58Go back five, six years ago, working at Tottenham.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00I was speaking to one of the young boys.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03He asked me for some ideas. He wanted some ideas
0:11:03 > 0:11:06about what to get his parents for Christmas, so I said to him,
0:11:06 > 0:11:09"I tell you what, your best bet, go to Harrods
0:11:09 > 0:11:11"and they've got everything there."
0:11:11 > 0:11:14He said, "I can't go there, a young black guy."
0:11:15 > 0:11:19And he honestly believed, in this day and age,
0:11:19 > 0:11:21that Harrods was off-limits to him.
0:11:24 > 0:11:26And the struggle continues.
0:11:37 > 0:11:39The really strange thing about black people in general
0:11:39 > 0:11:43is that we're public figures. Simply by walking down the street,
0:11:43 > 0:11:45we're public figures, in as much as we stand out
0:11:45 > 0:11:49in a generally white society. So, style,
0:11:49 > 0:11:55dress, deportment, the way we carry ourselves becomes really important,
0:11:55 > 0:11:59because it's one of the ways that you stay alive.
0:11:59 > 0:12:01So these aren't trivial issues.
0:12:01 > 0:12:02Style is to do with everything.
0:12:10 > 0:12:14This is my first ever suit and my first ever pair of boots.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16And I don't know if it's a self-conscious thing,
0:12:16 > 0:12:20but basically, I still wear the same thing nowadays, so...
0:12:23 > 0:12:27I realised that clothing was kind of like an external manifestation
0:12:27 > 0:12:30of maybe what was going on upstairs.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Or what you wanted people to believe was going on upstairs.
0:12:32 > 0:12:34And I think that was what was interesting for me,
0:12:34 > 0:12:36is that you could trick people into believing maybe
0:12:36 > 0:12:40that you were someone else, just by the clothes that you wore.
0:12:41 > 0:12:46I've always seen my clothes or what I create as enhancers,
0:12:46 > 0:12:51so you put on a piece I created and it would add to you.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54It would connect with you in some way,
0:12:54 > 0:12:56so you would have more confidence.
0:12:58 > 0:13:04The idea of me being my own muse was something I fought against,
0:13:04 > 0:13:09because I knew that maybe if the press took pictures of me,
0:13:09 > 0:13:12the point might get missed.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14So, I didn't allow anyone to take pictures.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20What did Maya Angelou say?
0:13:20 > 0:13:22You know, "I might be broke and penniless,
0:13:22 > 0:13:25"but I look like I have an oil well
0:13:25 > 0:13:28"bubbling in my living room," you know.
0:13:28 > 0:13:30I will always be Edward the black editor.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35I guess the dream position is to be...
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Like, whether it's Naomi or myself or Ozwald.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41..is to be the best at what you do, regardless of your colour.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48When I was growing up, we had the greatest of them all,
0:13:48 > 0:13:52Naomi Campbell. She really is a true fighter.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55She's Jamaican, you know. Buffalo Soldier.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58I don't care what they think of me.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00I can't change their opinions.
0:14:00 > 0:14:01Does it hurt sometimes?
0:14:01 > 0:14:05Of course, it does. But it doesn't stop me from keeping moving forward.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09I'm proud to be black. I've never cared to be any other way.
0:14:09 > 0:14:12I'm a black woman and proud to be in my own skin.
0:14:27 > 0:14:30Is black success valued in the UK?
0:14:30 > 0:14:32I don't know. I don't know if it's...
0:14:33 > 0:14:35I don't even know that it's...
0:14:35 > 0:14:39I don't know about valued, I don't even know whether it's acknowledged.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43The day after I won my BAFTA, I can't remember what rag it was...
0:14:43 > 0:14:47"Well, she's not actually British, because her dad is African."
0:14:47 > 0:14:50THAT'S what was chosen to focus on?!
0:14:51 > 0:14:53Oh...so sad.
0:14:53 > 0:14:55It's like... "Embrace me, enjoy me -
0:14:55 > 0:14:58"I just won a BAFTA for you a lot."
0:14:58 > 0:15:01Embrace it. Let's all celebrate together.
0:15:01 > 0:15:03Quite often, as an actor, particularly as a black actor,
0:15:03 > 0:15:05you're told you have no value.
0:15:07 > 0:15:10"Black movies aren't going to sell. Black plays won't work.
0:15:10 > 0:15:12"I'm not going to put my money into this movie,
0:15:12 > 0:15:13"because it's got a black lead."
0:15:13 > 0:15:16So it gets frustrating and that's why we all leave.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18That's why you're getting a drain of black talent leaving England
0:15:18 > 0:15:21and going to the States.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25If an opportunity to work in America came up tomorrow, I'd be gone.
0:15:25 > 0:15:27That is the honest truth.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30I think, as a women of colour, I think...
0:15:30 > 0:15:34When I look to America, the possibilities seem endless.
0:15:34 > 0:15:36As far as I'm concerned,
0:15:36 > 0:15:39BAFTA stands for Black Actors Fuck Off To America.
0:15:41 > 0:15:44Are you going to leave that in? That's a good line, that.
0:15:44 > 0:15:45You should leave that in.
0:15:53 > 0:15:59This is a photograph of me playing Othello, Shakespeare's Othello.
0:15:59 > 0:16:03For centuries, it's been played by a white actor in blackface.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06So I was the first genuine black actor to play this.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11I gave it absolutely everything, absolutely everything.
0:16:11 > 0:16:13I knew what was on the line.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16I had to really give it my all.
0:16:16 > 0:16:19I remember reading the reviews and every single one of them said,
0:16:19 > 0:16:21"Black actor David Harewood."
0:16:22 > 0:16:25I kind of stopped and thought, "Oh.
0:16:25 > 0:16:28"I'm a black actor. I'm not an actor."
0:16:28 > 0:16:29And, er...
0:16:30 > 0:16:34..I quickly became aware that things were different.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38A couple of years later,
0:16:38 > 0:16:43I was in a well-known fast-food restaurant and...
0:16:44 > 0:16:46..this black lady came up to me and she just, she said,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48"Excuse me, your name's David Harewood."
0:16:48 > 0:16:52I said, "Yes." She said, "I just need to thank you."
0:16:52 > 0:16:53And I said, "Sorry?"
0:16:53 > 0:16:54She said, "I want to thank you,
0:16:54 > 0:16:57"because my son is now at university because of you."
0:16:57 > 0:16:59I said, "What do you mean?" She said,
0:16:59 > 0:17:02"He's the only black kid in his class
0:17:02 > 0:17:03"and they were studying Othello
0:17:03 > 0:17:07"and all the kids where ribbing him, because Othello is stupid
0:17:07 > 0:17:13"and had been undone by this... the clever white man
0:17:13 > 0:17:16"and he was dreading seeing the production."
0:17:17 > 0:17:20She said, "When he saw your performance, he was so proud...
0:17:22 > 0:17:28"..and so inspired that he decided to study English at university,"
0:17:28 > 0:17:29and...
0:17:34 > 0:17:36Just kind of makes you go...
0:17:40 > 0:17:43There's a part of black society
0:17:43 > 0:17:46that would like to insist
0:17:46 > 0:17:48that black people should only behave in certain ways,
0:17:48 > 0:17:51that black people should keep to themselves, you know.
0:17:51 > 0:17:56Being the first black director of a major cultural organisation,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59sometimes that gets difficult.
0:17:59 > 0:18:04It gets lonely. Sometimes, it gets profoundly uncomfortable.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07That's never a reason not to do those things.
0:18:07 > 0:18:08No-one will ever tell you,
0:18:08 > 0:18:10"You should do this, in order to become that."
0:18:10 > 0:18:12They'll never give you that.
0:18:12 > 0:18:13They'll never give you that knowledge.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16As a black person, you have to figure that out for yourself.
0:18:16 > 0:18:19And it's something that I know
0:18:19 > 0:18:21and I quietly celebrate myself,
0:18:21 > 0:18:24because there's no-one else who's going to celebrate that for me.
0:18:24 > 0:18:25And that...
0:18:25 > 0:18:27that makes me sad.
0:18:33 > 0:18:37There are some lines in Tennyson, which I always remember.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39It's in the poem Ulysses.
0:18:39 > 0:18:43At the end of his life, he wasn't sure where he was going,
0:18:43 > 0:18:47whether to heaven or to hell, and he explains it by saying,
0:18:47 > 0:18:51he says, "For all my mind was clouded with a doubt."
0:18:52 > 0:18:56That's me, because I was terrified of failure.
0:18:56 > 0:19:01I have always lived with the fear of failure.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08My name is David Adjaye, I'm an architect.
0:19:11 > 0:19:12My name is Ashley Banjo.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15I'm a dancer, choreographer.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20I am a singer, songwriter, amongst other things.
0:19:20 > 0:19:23- SHE LAUGHS - Mother, you know...
0:19:23 > 0:19:25That should have been number one.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30I, kind of, made an office and it grew very quickly
0:19:30 > 0:19:32and I was doing work all over the world.
0:19:32 > 0:19:35The problems with being a black entrepreneur
0:19:35 > 0:19:38is that the thing is stacked against you in the first place.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41You're not expected to succeed,
0:19:41 > 0:19:45because the percentages of black businesses that succeed
0:19:45 > 0:19:47are not many, so when you go to that bank manager
0:19:47 > 0:19:49and you say, "I really need a loan of X,"
0:19:49 > 0:19:52they really look at you triple hard.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54They were kind of looking for the white person
0:19:54 > 0:19:57who really kind of made the business work or who owned the business.
0:19:57 > 0:20:00I realised that there were a lot of other young entrepreneurs
0:20:00 > 0:20:02and young businessman who probably were in the same position,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05who feel like they didn't make it,
0:20:05 > 0:20:09and I thought, "It's incumbent on me to dispel that sense of failure,"
0:20:09 > 0:20:12which I think is a really horrible quality.
0:20:16 > 0:20:18A lot of people are so fixed in their opinion.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21I can think of specific moments
0:20:21 > 0:20:25where people have told me I can't do something.
0:20:25 > 0:20:29I think you can't reason with people until you actually just show them
0:20:29 > 0:20:32what you're capable of and show them what you can do.
0:20:33 > 0:20:37I had a father who was very much against me
0:20:37 > 0:20:39being in the music industry.
0:20:39 > 0:20:45I remember saying to him that I cannot let the success or failure
0:20:45 > 0:20:49of anyone else determine what path I choose.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52You choose to become the individual that,
0:20:52 > 0:20:55when the next 17-year-old turns around to their dad and says,
0:20:55 > 0:20:58"I want to be in the industry," they can use you as an example
0:20:58 > 0:21:00as somebody that has prevailed.
0:21:00 > 0:21:04And I know... I know where he was coming from.
0:21:04 > 0:21:06But it still broke my heart that he said it,
0:21:06 > 0:21:09because it was such a sad state of affairs,
0:21:09 > 0:21:13but, in a way, it became my driving force, it became my motivation.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15Anybody who's sitting at home, writing a brilliant script
0:21:15 > 0:21:19or anybody who's been doing stand-up for three or four years
0:21:19 > 0:21:21or acting or whatever and has brilliant ideas, but thinks,
0:21:21 > 0:21:24"I'm never going to get a chance and they'll never listen to me
0:21:24 > 0:21:26"and anyway, everybody's against me,"
0:21:26 > 0:21:28needs to get up off their arse and just pitch -
0:21:28 > 0:21:30pitch like crazy.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33Kick the door down and pitch like you've never pitched before.
0:21:33 > 0:21:37MUSIC: Fix Up Look Sharp By Dizzee Rascal
0:21:39 > 0:21:43So, from early, I had my own record label,
0:21:43 > 0:21:48so all the early instrumentals that I made when I was, like, 17, 18,
0:21:48 > 0:21:51before I had a record deal, were on my own label.
0:21:54 > 0:21:58When it came to a crucial point in my career,
0:21:58 > 0:22:01when my record deal with XL was over
0:22:01 > 0:22:05and they weren't about to give me the situation that I felt I deserved
0:22:05 > 0:22:08at the time, it's cos I had a record label when I was 17
0:22:08 > 0:22:12that let me feel like I could do it again but on a bigger scale,
0:22:12 > 0:22:14and it worked out.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16I got a bunch of number ones on that album.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19That album sold millions of records.
0:22:19 > 0:22:21And it's the album that I own,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25it's the album where I went independent...
0:22:25 > 0:22:28that has really given me my real big success.
0:22:28 > 0:22:33Black people must follow that advice of Bob Marley -
0:22:33 > 0:22:37"We must liberate ourselves from mental slavery."
0:22:37 > 0:22:38We are free people,
0:22:38 > 0:22:41so let's liberate ourselves from always assuming,
0:22:41 > 0:22:44"We can't do this, we can't do this, we can't go there."
0:22:44 > 0:22:47No. Every area is available, including the political scene.
0:22:55 > 0:23:00This is a picture of the announcement of my election
0:23:00 > 0:23:03as the Member of Parliament for Streatham.
0:23:04 > 0:23:09The reason I chose the photo was because, when I was growing up,
0:23:09 > 0:23:11this just seemed so...
0:23:11 > 0:23:15completely incredible and improbable.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22In this photograph,
0:23:22 > 0:23:29I am doing my first solo Royal Albert Hall BBC Prom.
0:23:29 > 0:23:33I'm holding a little dream of mine.
0:23:34 > 0:23:36It was totally surreal.
0:23:37 > 0:23:43My message to people who have ever been told that you can't,
0:23:43 > 0:23:45I'd beg you not to believe that
0:23:45 > 0:23:49and I would dare you to do it anyway.
0:23:58 > 0:24:01This is a portrait that has been taken of me
0:24:01 > 0:24:05in front of the National Museum of African American History And Culture
0:24:05 > 0:24:06on the Washington Mall.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10We were on a shortlist of 70 architects from around the world
0:24:10 > 0:24:14and we got down to the, sort of, 20 and we couldn't believe that.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16And then we got down to the six
0:24:16 > 0:24:19and then we were paid to do this competition
0:24:19 > 0:24:21against all the kind of great names that we know.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23That was really exhilarating.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27I remember the phone call.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29I don't think I'll ever forget that phone call,
0:24:29 > 0:24:35where I was told that I'd won the competition, and it felt like, um...
0:24:35 > 0:24:37everything had changed in that moment.
0:24:37 > 0:24:39That was like...
0:24:39 > 0:24:42"Wow, this is a powerful statement."
0:24:44 > 0:24:47I genuinely believe that I was chosen not because of my colour,
0:24:47 > 0:24:50but because I kind of synthesised an agenda that the museum had.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53I kind of made a building which spoke to their story,
0:24:53 > 0:24:57rather than making a building as a container for their story.
0:24:57 > 0:25:02And winning the museum on such a sort of contested ground,
0:25:02 > 0:25:06the political front lawn of America, behind the White House,
0:25:06 > 0:25:08suddenly felt like, "Oh, my God, if THEY got it,
0:25:08 > 0:25:12"then maybe this was not so insular after all."
0:25:12 > 0:25:14It was a kind of profound vindication.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16It was euphoric.
0:25:16 > 0:25:18It was like the air was different.
0:25:22 > 0:25:26I could hear the British public cheering for me, screaming for me.
0:25:26 > 0:25:29And I just...I just gave everything.
0:25:29 > 0:25:33When I crossed the line, it was just a...
0:25:33 > 0:25:38a kaleidoscope of emotion, just overwhelming beyond words.
0:25:39 > 0:25:44But, coming back to Britain, I realised that there was impact.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49I distinctly remember going to schools
0:25:49 > 0:25:55and young children actually coming up to me and giving me hugs
0:25:55 > 0:26:00and, you know, really feeling the fact that I was in their school.
0:26:01 > 0:26:06And for, I think, the young black children, there was a sense of,
0:26:06 > 0:26:10"Well, if she can do it, then I can."
0:26:15 > 0:26:18I forgot to tell you about what my mum thought about
0:26:18 > 0:26:21- when I became a comedian. Did I tell you?- No, you didn't.
0:26:21 > 0:26:22She was not happy.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27But, luckily, I got on a talent show on ITV
0:26:27 > 0:26:30called The Big Big Talent Show, watched by millions of people
0:26:30 > 0:26:34and I got to the finals and my mum was invited to the studio
0:26:34 > 0:26:35to be in the crowd.
0:26:35 > 0:26:39And Jonathan Ross actually, sort of, pointed to my mum in the audience,
0:26:39 > 0:26:40he acknowledged her in the audience,
0:26:40 > 0:26:42he said, "Oh, Gina's mum is in the audience,"
0:26:42 > 0:26:44and I swear to God my mum stood up like that.
0:26:44 > 0:26:45CREW LAUGHS
0:26:45 > 0:26:48"Mm-hm, yes. I am the reason she's here.
0:26:48 > 0:26:50"I am the reason for this success."
0:26:52 > 0:26:57I think the legacy of black people in Britain, particularly now,
0:26:57 > 0:27:01is to demonstrate that we are people.
0:27:02 > 0:27:05People of talent, people of vision, people of passion,
0:27:05 > 0:27:13that we have a contribution to make to this country, which is equal
0:27:13 > 0:27:19and can on occasion surpass that made by anyone.
0:27:27 > 0:27:29Britain's a better place because of us.
0:27:29 > 0:27:33We've made it a more dynamic, exciting, entertaining, ironic,
0:27:33 > 0:27:38romantic, you know, expansive place, because of who we are
0:27:38 > 0:27:40and because of what we've brought.
0:27:40 > 0:27:45There's a great seam of black British success
0:27:45 > 0:27:48which, when put together, you go, "Wow!"
0:27:48 > 0:27:53Just coming in today, I just walked past Denise Lewis, who's a legend,
0:27:53 > 0:27:57and I go, "I'm in a thing... I'm in a thing with HER?!"
0:27:57 > 0:28:01And then you look on there and you see Ozwald Boateng, Naomi Campbell,
0:28:01 > 0:28:02and you suddenly of think,
0:28:02 > 0:28:05not only do we have value, but we have HUGE value.
0:28:09 > 0:28:11There is...
0:28:13 > 0:28:18..a path and you can achieve and we should celebrate it.
0:28:20 > 0:28:21We should celebrate it.