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David Oyelowo claims ‘problematic’ Spooks producers denied him lead role as audiences ‘weren’t ready’: ‘I felt that was racially tinged’

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David Oyelowo has claimed the producers of Spooks communicated to him that the audience wasn’t ‘ready’ for him to take on the lead role in the show following the exit of stars Matthew Macfadyen and Keeley Hawes after three seasons.

The actor revealed he felt their reaction was ‘racially tinged’ and branded their behaviour ‘problematic’ when they encouraged him to stay on as part of the ensemble cast rather than leave and take his chances elsewhere which he interpreted as being ‘because I wasn’t recognising where I needed to stay’.

In an interview with The Times , the Golden Globe-nominated actor looked back on his time as MI5 agent Danny Hunter with the popular spy series, which launched his career in 2005.

When Macfadyen and Hawes left the show after three seasons, the Selma star felt it was ‘a fairly natural transition in terms of storyline’ for him to progress to lead status, and admitted that he felt he ‘had leverage’ – but that was not to be.

He explained: ‘It was expressed to me that that wasn’t going to happen. That the audience supposedly wasn’t ‘ready’ for that.

‘And I felt that was racially tinged.’

Oyelowo alleged that when he then informed the show’s producers that he would be leaving, they cautioned against it in a way he felt was ‘problematic’.

He recalled: ‘It was communicated to me that I was making a mistake, because I wasn’t recognising where I needed to stay. I found that very problematic.’

Spooks was a flagship drama for the BBC for 10 seasons, from 2002 to 2011, and featured stars including Rupert Penry Jones, Nicola Walker, Hermione Norris and Peter Firth.

It also made the leap to the big screen in 2015 with Spooks: The Greater Good, starring Game of Thrones actor Kit Harrington.    

Since Spooks, stage-trained Oyelowo has found success in America as well as the UK, with parts in films including The Last King of Scotland, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Butler and Selma, in which he portrayed Martin Luther King Jr.

In June 2020, Selma director Ava DuVernay backed Oyelowo’s claims that Academy members said they wouldn’t vote for critically-acclaimed civil rights film, following the cast’s public support for Eric Garner, a black man who died after he was placed in a chokehold by a white New York City police officer in 2014.

The death of Garner received renewed attention following the death of George Floyd, and Selma was widely regarded as snubbed when it received no recognition for Oyelowo’s performance or DuVernay’s direction from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 2015 Oscars.

The film was nominated for best picture and won best original song for Glory, however that year’s awards were accused of a lack of diversity after all 20 acting nominees were white.

Metro.co.uk has contacted Spooks producers Kudos and the BBC for comment.

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The Real Reason David Oyelowo Wanted To Be Killed Off His First Show

The thing about opportunities of a lifetime is that they rarely remain as such for your entire lifetime.

For David Oyelowo, the chance to star in the BBC domestic intelligence drama Spooks was one such opportunity. The actor recently told Vanity Fair  that he was coming off three years at the Royal Shakespeare Company when he was cast . Playing Junior Case Officer Danny Hunter on the show, which is known as MI-5  to US audiences, was his first real chance to showcase his talent on the screen.

What's more, the show starred three British actors in their 20s, when most series at the time were carried by actors twice that age. That fact, he explained, made the Spooks team more willing to take risks. "We literally treated every episode as if we were going to get fired," Oyelowo said, "so we just went in and had as much fun as we could possibly have until everyone realized what they had done and summarily let us go." 

When Spooks  was met with raves, Oyelowo found himself approached by famous directors praising his performance and expressing interest in working with him. But Oyelowo was unable to commit to other projects, due to his obligations to the show. If he was going to stay and continue to refuse that other work, he wanted the show's creative team to make it worth his while — especially in the wake of lead actor Matthew Macfadyen's departure during season three.

Why David Oyelowo wanted the most epic death possible

As Oyelowo explained, "I said either put me front and center or give me the most epic death possible, and the latter is what happened." The series didn't push him into a more prominent position after Macfadyen's departure, instead bringing in Rupert Penry-Jones to play new lead character Adam Carter. Oyelowo's second option led to Danny being killed while protecting a colleague after they're both captured by a terrorist cell in the show's third season finale. This freed Oyelowo to seek new work elsewhere.

Fortunately for Oyelowo, what he described as calling the bluff of all those directors who had previously praised his work would eventually pay off. His first prominent film role was playing Dr. Junju opposite Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy in The Last King of Scotland , a film that earned a slew of awards . But it would be Spooks' eventual   success in America that would lead to Oyelowo receiving  his most interesting Hollywood offers . One such offer was an early look at the script that would become Selma more than half a decade later, in which he stars as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Talk about the opportunity of a lifetime. 

Spooks: Where Are The Cast Now?

Entertainment Editor, HuffPost UK

It’s been nearly nine years since the spies of MI5 solved their final case on the BBC drama Spooks .

The show was one of the most popular and enduring dramas of the 00s, running for ten series after it debuted in 2002.

Recent months have seen Spooks enjoy a resurgence after all of the series were uploaded to the BBC iPlayer at the start of the UK’s lockdown, introducing it to a whole new generation of viewers, as well as giving its original fanbase the chance to catch it again.

With that in mind, we checked in on all of the fictional MI5 agents to see what the actors behind them have been up to since leaving their undercover lives behind...

Matthew Macfadyen as Tom Quinn (Series 1-3, 10)

Shortly after his role on Spooks came to an end, Matthew made the jump to the big screen, starring as Mr. Darcy in Joe Wright’s Pride & Prejudice in 2005.

From there, he played Daniel in 2007’s Death At A Funeral, portrayed John Birt in 2008 film Frost/Nixon and appeared as Stiva in 2012’s Anna Karenina. Other film roles include The Three Musketeers, Robin Hood and The Current War.

TV wise, Matthew reunited on screen with former Spooks co-star Keeley Hawes in Ashes To Ashes in 2007 – two years after the pair married in real life. They remain together to this day and have two children.

In 2010, he won a TV Bafta for Best Supporting Actor for his role in BBC drama Criminal Justice. After making a cameo appearance in the final episode of Spooks in 2011, Matthew had a lead role in BBC One’s period drama Ripper Street from 2012 to 2016 and appeared in two US TV movies.

Most recently, he played Major Charles Ingram in ITV’s Quiz, a dramatisation of the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? coughing scandal, while he also appears as Tom Wambsgans in the critically acclaimed HBO series Succession.

David Oyelowo as Danny Hunter (Series 1-3)

Since David left his role as Danny at the end of the third series, he’s gone on to have a massive film career.

He won huge critical acclaim for his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr in 2014’s Selma, which saw him win the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture and Black Reel Award for Best Actor, as well as earning Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice nominations. In the same year, David also gave an acclaimed performance in HBO film Nightingale, for which he picked up a Critics’ Choice Television Award and Black Reel Award for Best Actor.

David also took the lead role in 2016’s A United Kingdom, and starred in Queen of Katwe in the same year.

His other film credits include Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), Lincoln (2012), Jack Reacher (2012), The Butler (2013) and Gringo (2018).

David has also continued to make appearances on the small screen too, playing Javert in the BBC’s 2018 adaptation of Les Miserables and Edward in Channel 4’s 2013 drama Complicit, as well as providing the voice of Scar in The Lion Guard animated series and Alexsandr Kallus in Star Wars Rebels.

Keeley Hawes as Zoe Reynolds (Series 1-3)

Keeley has taken on a wide range of roles since her character absconded after being charged with conspiracy to murder.

In one of her first post-Spooks roles, she appeared in a modern reimagining of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, before having a guest role in two episodes of The Vicar Of Dibley in 2006.

From there, Keeley took the lead role in Life On Mars spin-off Ashes To Ashes as DI Alex Drake, before playing another cop in 2010 ITV drama, Identity.

Four years later, she was the main antagonist in the second series of Line Of Duty , with her character Lindsay Denton also returning for the third season in 2016.

Arguably her most famous role came in another of Jed Mercurio’s series, Bodyguard , where she played home secretary Julia Montague in 2018.

Keeley also had a main role in the second series of BBC drama The Missing, and until 2019, played Louisa Durrell in The Durrells.

Other major roles include Mrs Wilson, Upstairs Downstairs and The Hollow Crown.

Peter Firth as Sir Harry Pearce (Series 1-10)

After Spooks finished on TV in 2011, Peter reprised his role as Harry in the 2015 spin-off film Spooks: The Greater Good, which starred Game Of Thrones ’ Kit Harington .

The same year saw him play Jacob Marley in the BBC’s Dickensian, before he then went on to appear as the Duke Of Cumberland in ITV’s Victoria.

Other roles have included military drama Mayday, and ITV’s Undeniable, while Peter most recently appeared on TV in a 2018 episode of Sky One drama Strike Back: Retribution.

Hugh Simon as Malcolm Wynn-Jones (Series 1-10)

Like Peter Frith, Hugh also reprised his role as Malcolm in the Spooks film in 2015, having played Dr Holland in the second series of Channel 4’s period drama The Mill in 2014.

He has also made guest appearances in shows like Doctors, Vera, Endeavour and Last Tango in Halifax, and has starred alongside Rowan Atkinson as Dr Paul in ITV’s Maigret TV films.

Most recently, Hugh popped up in two episodes of Victoria in 2019 as Colonel Sibthrope, as well as Sky One sitcom Brassic and was most recently seen at the start of the 2020 in an episode of The Trial Of Christine Keeler.

Jenny Agutter as Tessa Phillips (Series 1-2)

Jenny was already a celebrated actor when she joined the cast of Spooks, but these days she is arguably best known for playing Sister Julienne in Call The Midwife since 2012.

She’s also appeared in ITV drama series Monday Monday, and the BBC’s The Invisables and The Alan Clark Diaries, as well as making guest appearances in the likes of Agatha Christie’s Marple, New Tricks and Midsomer Murders.

Jenny has also appeared in two Marvel films, playing Councilwoman Hawley in 2012’s The Avengers and 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Rory MacGregor as Colin Wells (Series 1-5)

After wrapping up his role as Colin, Rory has had a number of guest roles in the likes of Casualty, New Tricks, Primeval and Ashes To Ashes.

According to IMDb, his last credited TV role was in 2011, when he appeared in an episode of Doctors.

Lisa Faulkner as Helen Flynn (Series 1)

Lisa’s role in Spooks was short-lived to say the least, with her character Helen memorably killed off via a deep fat fryer 7in the second episode of the first series.

From there, she appeared in two series of Murder In Suburbia as Det. Sgt. Emma Scribbins from 2004 to 2005, before playing Laura Scammell in New Street Law from 2006 to 2007.

But an appearance on Celebrity Masterchef in 2010 changed the course of Lisa’s career and personal life.

After winning the series, Lisa became closely associated with food, hosting Real Food Family Cook Off and What’s Cooking, as well as making frequent appearances in the This Morning kitchen.

She also began a relationship with Masterchef judge John Torode , and the couple are now married, hosting John And Lisa’s Weekend Kitchen on ITV.

Away from the cookery world, Lisa played a central role in Max Branning’s Walford revenge storyline on EastEnders in 2017, playing Fi Browning – the daughter of classic villain James Willmott Brown.

Shauna Macdonald as Sam Buxton (Series 2-3)

Shauna’s first big role after leaving Spooks was in the 2005 horror film The Descent, in which she played Sarah Carter.

Her other film roles include 2013’s Filth and 2016’s The Correspondence, while she also had a minor role as a pilot in Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017.

On TV, Shauna has popped up in the likes of Ripper Street and Bonekickers, and had main roles in BBC drama The Cry as Dr Wallace and In Plain Sight as Agnes Muncie. She also played Georgie in BBC sitcom Hold The Sunset, and more recently appeared in an episode of ITV’s Liar as Mary Earlham and BBC drama The Nest as Sheena Galvin.

Since 2015, she has also voiced Professor Squawkencluck in animated series Danger Mouse, while Shauna has also had various theatre roles and acted on many Radio 4 plays.

Nicola Walker as Ruth Evershed (Series 2-5, 8-10)

Nicola has been a main-stay on British TV since her second stint on Spooks came to an end.

These days, she is probably best known for playing Gillian Greenwood on Last Tango In Halifax since 2012, which has seen her nominated for a TV Bafta for Best Supporting Actress.

She also plays DCI Cassie Stuart in ITV crime series Unforgotten, and lawyer Hannah Stern in the BBC’s family drama The Split.

Nicola has also appeared in dramas including 2013’s Prisoners’ Wives and Heading Out, 2014’s Babylon, 2015’s River, and 2018 mini series Collateral, as well as guest roles on shows including New Tricks, Inside No 9 and Scott And Bailey.

Rupert Penry Jones as Adam Carter (Series 3-7)

Rupert’s exit from Spooks came as a shock to many fans when his character was killed off in the seventh series.

From there, Rupert starred in a BBC adaptation of John Buchan novel The 39 Steps, playing Richard Hannay and from 2009 to 2013, he had a lead role as DI Joseph Chandler in Whitechapel, and from 2011 to 2014, he played Clive Reader in Silk. His most recent TV credit came in 2018, when he played Samuel Blake in Sky’s crime series Stan Lee’s Lucky Man.

Rupert also made the leap to the US, appearing as Mr Quinlan in the American horror series The Strain and Lord Thomas Hamilton in historical adventure series Black Sails.

His film credits include 2014’s A Little Chaos, 2017’s Pegasus Bridge and 2020’s Miss Fisher And The Crypt Of Tears.

Olga Sosnovska as Fiona Carter (Series 3-4)

Two years after her time on the show came to an end, Olga had a minor role as a character called Debbie in Ocean’s 13. Also in 2007, she starred in an episode of US drama Criminal Minds.

In 2011, Olga appeared in four episodes of dark US comedy Weeds as Zoya, while her most recent credited screen role was in 2014, when she had a guest role as Roxanna in HBO series The Leftovers.

Raza Jaffrey as Zafar Younis (Series 3-6)

Fans of BBC drama Mistresses may also know Raza for playing Hari during the first two series.

After leaving in 2009, he had a minor role as a butler in Sex And The City 2 the following year, which marked the start of his US career.

From there, he played Dec Sundaram in 2012 US TV series Smash, appeared in three episodes of Once Upon A Time In Wonderland in 2014 and had a recurring role in Sherlock Holmes drama Elementary.

The same year, Raza had a recurring part in Homeland, playing Aasar Khan in seven episodes, before he landed a main role as Neal Hudson on the CBS TV medical drama Code Black.

More recently, he’s starred in the Lost In Space reboot and NBC’s The Enemy Within, as well as starring alongside Blake Lively and Jude Law in 2020 film The Rhythm Section.

In real life, Raza married Spooks co-star Miranda Raison shortly after he left the show in 2007, but they divorced two years later. He is now married to another former Spooks star Lara Pulver, although the couple never worked on the show together.

Miranda Raison as Jo Portman (Series 4-8)

Straight after Spooks, Miranda played Abbey in ITV drama Married Single Other in 2010, and the following year made appearances in Death In Paradise, Merlin and Sugartown.

In 2013, she landed her biggest role in the US to date, when she was cast as Caroline Fowlds in 24: Live Another Day, and has appeared in other American TV series including Nightflyers and Warrior. Back home, she played Sylvie in 2018 ITV drama Dark Heart after appearing in a pilot episode two years earlier.

If you have children, Miranda’s voice is also probably familiar to you, as she has voiced the character of Millie in Thomas The Tank Engine since 2013.

Miranda’s also had a number of stage roles, including productions of Hello/Goodbye, The Winter’s Tale and Harlequinade.

Hermione Norris as Ros Myers (Series 5-8)

Hermione was best known as Karen Marden in Cold Feet prior to joining the cast of Spooks, and reprised the role when the show returned after a 13-year hiatus in 2016 for four more series.

Hermione’s time in ITV drama Kingdom as Beatrice came to an end around the same time as her character was killed off in Spooks in 2009, and she has enjoyed a plethora of other TV roles since.

In 2011, she appeared in BBC drama Outcasts, while she starred in ITV mini-series A Mother’s Son the following year. She played Grace Carter in BBC period drama The Crimson Field in 2014, and the same year saw her star as Roanna in Kay Mellor’s In The Club, before she enjoyed a guest role in an episode of Doctor Who.

More recently, Hermione starred in ITV mini series Innocent opposite Lee Ingleby in 2018, and portrayed antagonist Dr Vivien Lake in the most recent series of Luther in 2019.

Alex Lanipekun as Ben Kaplan (Series 6-7)

Alex’s character was unusual in that Ben was first introduced as a journalist who later became a spy.

After Alex exited the show, he had a guest role in BBC Three series Being Human in 2010, also making appearances in Beautiful People, Death In Paradise and The Missing.

He played Steve in 2012 Comedy Central series Big Bad World, and two years later landed his first US TV role, playing James Harman in 24: Live Another Day, reuniting him with former Spooks co-star Miranda Raison.

The same year, Alex appeared in four episodes of Homeland as Hank Bonham, while more recently he played Pandarus in the BBC and Netflix co-production Troy: Fall Of A City in 2018.

In 2019, Alex starred in Sky Atlantic drama Riviera as Raafi Al-Qadar.

Gemma Jones as Connie James (Series 6-7)

Gemma was well-known to many prior to joining the cast of Spooks thanks to her many film and TV roles, including playing Bridget Jones ’ mum in the movie franchise, and Madam Poppy Pomfrey in the Harry Potter films – both roles she reprised after leaving the BBC show.

As well as guest roles in the likes of Merlin, Death In Paradise, Last Tango In Halifax and Doc Martin, she had a regular role in ITV drama Unforgotten in 2015, appearing alongside former Spooks co-star Nicola Walker.

In 2015, Gemma won the TV Bafta for Best Supporting Actress for her role in BBC TV film Marvellous, and in 2019, she played Aunt Anne Lister in Gentleman Jack – a role she’s previously played in a 2010 TV movie, The Secret Diaries Of Miss Anne Lister.

Gemma also played Johnny’s mum Deirdre in God’s Own Country in 2017 and appeared as Ivy in 2019 Elton John biopic Rocketman .

Most recently, Gemma appeared alongside her former Spooks co-star Hermione Norris in Cold Feet, playing her character Karen’s mum, Heather, in 2020.

Richard Armitage as Lucas North (Series 7-9)

In 2010, Richard began appearing in Sky drama Strike Back as John Porter, and the same year saw him play Heinz Kriger in Captain America: The First Avenger.

He starred in all three films of The Hobbit series as Thorin Oakenshield, while his other film credits include Alice Through The Looking Glass, Ocean’s 8 and Pilgrimage.

Richard has also appeared in several US TV dramas, playing Francis Dolarhyde in Hannibal and Daniel Miller in Berlin Station, while he also provided the voice for Trevor Belmont in Castlevania.

Richard’s stage credits also include Remembrance Of Things Past, The Crucible and Uncle Vanya.

Most recently, Richard appeared in the 2020 Netflix series The Stranger, in the lead role of Adam Price.

Shazad Latif as Tariq Masood (Series 8-10)

Around the same time Spooks wrapped up, Shazad had guest roles in Fresh Meat, Black Mirror and BBC drama Silk.

In 2013, he appeared in five episodes of My Mad Fat Diary as Dr. Nick Kassar, before going on to play Clem in Channel 4 sitcom Toast Of London.

From there, Shazad appeared in the 2015 series of BBC drama Ordinary Lies as Rick, before making the jump over to the US a year later, when he landed the role of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in Penny Dreadful.

After the show was cancelled after one season, Shazad began playing Ash Tyler in Star Trek: Discovery, sticking with the series for two years. He appeared in British-Candanian series Departure in 2019, and provided the voice of Kylan in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

Shazad’s big screen credits include The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – where he played Kushal – and 2018’s The Commuter.

Sophia Myles as Beth Bailey (Series 9)

Sophia only stayed with Spooks for one series, but she went on to play the character of Darcy Yyril in the Transformers film Age Of Extinction in 2014, and also appeared in BBC drama Our Zoo as Lady Katherine.

In 2018, she played Rebecca in Sky One’s A Discovery Of Witches, while in 2020, Sophia also reprised the role of Madame de Pompadour – who she’d played in a 2006 episode of Doctor Who – for a special webcast episode.

She has also provided the voice for Operative 19 in a reboot of Gerry Anderson’s anime series Firestorm.

Max Brown as Dimitri Levendis (Series 9-10)

Max was known to soap fans prior to joining Spooks, having appeared in the regular casts of both Hollyoaks and Crossroads, as well as his role as Edward Seymour in The Tudors.

Since the end of Spooks, Max has acted in US cop drama Beauty & The Beast, as well as having guest roles in the likes of Sleepy Hollow, You, Me And The Apocalypse and Agent Carter.

From 2016 to 2018, Max appeared alongside Elizabeth Hurle y in outrageous drama The Royals, playing King Robert, while in 2019, he appeared in the Downton Abbey film as Richard Ellis.

Lara Pulver as Erin Watts (Series 10)

Like some of the other cast members, Lara reprised her role as Erin in the 2015 Spooks film.

Prior to that, Laura appeared in two episodes of the Sherlock as Irene Adler between 2012 and 2014, and played Clarice Orisini in the BBC’s Da Vinci’s Demons. She also appeared in a Sky dramatisation of the life of James Bond creator Ian Fleming, playing his love interest Ann O’Neill.

Most recently, Lara appeared in BBC Two’s The City And The City, and in 2020, she played Karen in US period drama The Alienist. Her other TV roles include guest roles in Quantico and Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.

Lara is also a stage actor, winning the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical in the West End revival of Gypsy. Her other stage credits include High Society, Chicago and Miss Saigon.

She is also married to former Spooks star Raza Jaffrey, who played Zafar.

Geoffrey Streatfeild as Calum Reed (Series 10)

Geoffrey only appeared in the final series of Spooks, but did reprise his role as Calum in the film four years later.

He appeared in The Thick Of It in 2012 as the “Inbetweener” junior minister in DoSac, and played Edward IV in two episodes of The Hollow Crown in 2016.

His other TV credits include The Miniaturist, Prime Suspect 1973 and Traitors.

Geoffrey also has a number of stage credits, including Ivanov, The Seagull and Cell Mates.

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Spooks race row as David Oyelowo claims ‘problematic’ bosses blocked him from lead role because viewers ‘weren’t ready’

• Robert Mann
• Published : 15:56, 6 Dec 2021
• Updated : 15:59, 6 Dec 2021
• Published : Invalid Date,

SPOOKS has drawn accusations of racism after actor David Oyelowo claimed bosses blocked him from taking on a lead role - because viewers “weren’t ready” for it.

Following the exit of stars Matthew Mcfadyen and Keeley Hawes , David claimed the producers denied him the chance to take on a bigger role - a move which he claims was “racially tinged”.

In an exclusive interview with The Times , the Golden Globe -nominated actor looked back on his time as MI5 agent Danny Hunter with the popular spy series.

When Macfadyen and Hawes left the show after three seasons, the Selma star felt it was ”a fairly natural transition in terms of the storyline” for him to progress to lead status, and admitted that he felt he “had leverage” - but that was not to be.

He explained: “It was expressed to me that that wasn’t going to happen. That the audience supposedly wasn’t ‘ready’ for that.

“And I felt that was racially tinged.”

Oyelowo alleged that when he then informed the show’s producers that he would be leaving, they cautioned against it in a way he felt was “problematic”.

He recalled:”‘It was communicated to me that I was making a mistake because I wasn’t recognising where I needed to stay. I found that very problematic.”

The Sun has contacted the BBC and Spooks producers Kudos for comment.

Spooks was a flagship drama for the BBC for ten seasons - from 2002 to 2011 - and featured stars including Rupert Penry Jones, Nicola Walker, Hermione Norris and Peter Firth.

It also made the leap to the big screen in 2015 with Spooks: The Greater Good, starring Game of Thrones actor Kit Harrington.    

Since Spooks, stage-trained Oyelowo has found success in America as well as the UK, with parts in films including The Last King of Scotland, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Butler and Selma, in which he portrayed Martin Luther King Jr.

In June 2020, Selma director Ava DuVernay backed Oyelowo’s claims that Academy members said they wouldn’t vote for critically-acclaimed civil rights film.

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It came as they looked for justice for Eric Garner, a black man who died after he was placed in a chokehold by a white New York City police officer in 2014.

The death of Garner received renewed attention following the death of George Floyd , and Selma was widely regarded as snubbed when it received no recognition for Oyelowo’s performance or DuVernay’s direction from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 2015 Oscars.

The film was nominated for best picture and won best original song for Glory, however that year’s awards were accused of a lack of diversity after all 20 acting nominees were white.

Spooks creator teases revival with a very big change

David Wolstencroft says there is a "very strong argument for bringing the show back".

The BBC One drama — known as MI-5 in the US and some other countries — starred Keeley Hawes, David Oyelowo, Peter Firth, Jenny Agutter and Matthew Macfadyen as members of MI-5's Counter-Terrorism Department in its original run from 2002 to 2011.

Though the series premiered in the era of the War on Terrorism, Wolstencroft has told the Radio Times that it could very easily be updated with some crucial changes to its cast.

"I think we would have a greater racial diversity in the cast," he pointed out. "I would want more women writing it and directing it – it was quite a male-heavy show. It's just the way that everything fell at the time.

Related: Nicola Walker looks back at Spooks, 15 years on: "We won't have that sort of show again"

“The stories would come from different places, and maybe would be outside London. It would be more distributed across the nation. You would understand more of the world. These characters would perhaps have more different allegiances and different expectations of what the government could do.”

Wolstencroft added that "the stakes would be higher" given the way cybercrime and cyber-terrorism intersect with MI-5 these days.

"I think the mix would be different, and the feel would be different, but the ambition would stay the same – if not greater," he insisted.

In the meantime, fans can binge on the classic Spooks episodes because the BBC recently put boxsets of the show up on the iPlayer along with other iconic series such as Torchwood , The Missing , French and Saunders , Waking the Dead , Wallander and The Honourable Woman to help occupy everyone's time during the lockdown .

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Justin has been with Digital Spy since 2010, and in that time, has covered countless major news events for DS from the US. 

He has worked previously as both a reporter and sub editor for the brand, prior to taking on the position of Night News Editor in 2016. 

Over more than a decade, he has interviewed a wide-ranging group of public figures, from comedian Steve Coogan to icons from the Star Trek universe, cast members from the Marvel Cinematic Universe and reality stars from numerous Real Housewives cities and the Below Deck franchise. As a US contributor to Digital Spy, Justin has also been on the ground to cover major pop culture events like the Star Wars Celebration and the D23 Expo.

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David Oyelowo Breaks Down His Career, from 'Selma' to 'Come Away'

Released on 12/08/2020

The harder the character,

the further away it is from me as an actor,

the more it feels like I'm doing my job.

I have no interest in playing anything akin to myself.

Hi, I'm David Oyelowo

and this is the timeline of my career.

[soft jazz music]

How exactly can we do that?

Because we understand each other

we always have!

Not anymore.

Spooks came along at a time where

I had just done three years

at the Royal Shakespeare company.

I'd had one season where I'd been

in Antony and Cleopatra, Orinoco,

and a play called Volpone.

And then I have this huge moment in my career

which was getting to play Henry VI

But I hadn't really done anything on screen.

And this show called Spooks came along,

which was about MI-5 spies.

What I loved about it is that

it had exactly the thing I had vowed

to myself would be something I would

always pursue in my career,

which was to play roles that were not race specific.

I had managed that with, obviously,

getting to play the King of England in Henry VI,

but when Spooks came along to effectively

be Bond for the TV as we liked to call it,

was just a huge opportunity.

Myself, Matthew Macfadyen, and Keeley Hawes

who played the leads in Spooks,

we were all in our early 20s

and at that point in British television

that just wasn't happening.

Young people were not heading up these kinds of shows.

It was stars who were more in their 40s

who were very reliable, constantly on TV.

I think that's part of what was the success

of the show because we literally treated every episode

as if we were going to get fired.

So, we just went in and had as much fun

as we could possibly have until everyone

realized what they had done

and summarily let us go.

This is your operation, Tom!

Why are you wrecking it?!

After everything we've been through together, please!

[Danny] You owe this to us.

No, no, we couldn't do that here, not a Mulago.

It's the president's hospital.

He's bound to find out.

We can do this discreetly--

Because I did three seasons of Spooks,

and to be perfectly honest,

I wanted to go on to be the lead.

I wanted to be front and center of that show,

and for whatever reason, they didn't see it the same way.

And so I said, either put me front and center

or give me the most epic death possible,

and the latter is what happened.

They gave me the epic death.

And partly my thinking around that

was the show, Spooks, had been such a big hit,

I kept on having these great directors

reach out to me and saying,

We would love to work with you,

but you're always busy making Spooks.

So, the choice for me was either

I should be more prominent in that show

or I wanted to go and call these directors' bluff

and see if they would still stick around

when I was no longer on the show.

And when I left the show, thankfully,

that they were indeed there.

And so, The Last King of Scotland was one

of the first films I did after shooting Spooks

with James McAvoy and the incredible Forest Whitaker.

I'm of African descent myself,

but it was the first film at that stage

that I actually shot in Africa.

And I think it was only the second film ever shot in Uganda.

They will believe you.

You are the white man.

Dad, you heard what mom said.

That mess right there happened down South.

[Louis] This could have been me.

It happened down South.

I got out of there so we could have us a better life.

Right now, I'm working for the white man,

make things better for us.

After The Last King of Scotland,

I did a couple of other films.

Like also Spooks did really well here in America,

and so it became a good excuse to come out here

and see if there were going to be opportunities.

And my wife and I decided coming just speculatively

to see what might be out here,

and we ended up moving in 2007,

and about two, three months after moving,

this script, Selma hit my doormat.

That led to a whole journey that eventually led

to Lee Daniels, who came on board to direct that film.

I first read Selma in 2007.

Lee Daniels came on board with Selma in 2010.

And then, for a myriad of reasons,

we couldn't get Selma off the ground

but we formed this really quite incredible bond.

And that's what led to him

casting me in The Butler.

When I had played Henry VI

it was Henry VI parts one, two, and three,

and I had experienced what it is

to go from being a teenager in those plays

to also being an older man.

And so when The Butler came along

and presented the same kind of opportunity

and challenge but on film,

it was one that felt very natural to me to jump into

because I knew that playing age is not just about makeup.

It's about a state of mind.

That was something I had learnt playing Henry VI.

And so it was a no-brainer that

I was going to play this guy

from the age of 18 through to 65 or whatever it was.

But that is less often the case on film

as can be the case in theater,

and so unknown to me, Lee Daniels had actually

cast someone to play the younger version

of Louis Gaines, the character I play in The Butler.

And I had no idea.

I turned up, we were doing the camera test

as is often the case before you go onto shoot the film,

and I just did what I assumed I would do

which is to play my 18-year-old self,

and then we put makeup on and we also saw

that I could play my 60-something-year-old self.

And it wasn't until after the camera test,

I found out that an actor who had been hired

was then let go because I didn't realize

I had effectively been auditioning again

to play the younger version of myself

when we did the camera test.

So, that was a relief.

Not so much for that poor actor who had to be let go

but I was very keen to play the full arc of the character,

and I'm thankful that I got to do that.

We must in this country for our rights.

[Crowd] Yes!

Today, we march to free the people of South Africa.

A law that says you have to get up every morning

and seven o'clock put on your clothes, and your makeup,

and your costume jewelry.

Up until this point in my career

I had had the opportunity to work

with Forest Whitaker in The Last King of Scotland.

I'd also seen an actor like Daniel Day Lewis in Lincoln.

I saw these two magnificent titans of acting

immersing themselves so deeply in their characters

that it was impossible to discern who

they actually were as people themselves on set

and Nightingale was the first time that

I made the choice to stay in character the whole time.

Partly, because when I did The Last King of Scotland,

to be perfectly frank,

being around Forest was tough

because he was playing a Ugandan dictator,

and so making small talk with him on that set

was not something that was going to be happening.

And even though it was fantastic for the film

it was difficult for the crew and the rest of the cast.

And so if I was gonna do that

it felt like Nightingale was the perfect

opportunity to try it out.

I didn't have to be mean to other members of the cast

because they weren't there,

and it gave me an opportunity to see

if this is something that works for me.

And the thing I couldn't have anticipated is

that playing that character, staying in character,

for the three weeks, four weeks of the shoot,

and the thing that it gave me is it meant

I never second guessed any choices I made on screen.

And that's an incredibly releasing thing

to not be in your own head as to whether

you're making the right choices for the character.

And so, it gave me the blueprint

for playing other intense characters that

I went on to play beyond doing Nightingale.

You want to ruin everything?

This isn't over yet.

I know all your hiding places.

And on the rare occasions that they face trial

they are freed by all-white juries.

All-white because you can't serve

on a jury unless you are registered to vote.

One of the challenges for Selma,

during these seven years before it got made,

was that we were still in a time where

there was this narrative,

this really insidious narrative in Hollywood

that black doesn't travel.

So, it was a film that wouldn't do well internationally.

It was a film that exhibited Black pain,

so Black people wouldn't want to see it.

And it was a film that maybe made white people feel guilty.

So, white people wouldn't want to see it.

So that was a narrative.

We kept on being told that the film

should be made for about 25% less of the budget

than it actually needed to get made.

So, Lee just couldn't find a way to get this film made.

That's why I went on to do the films, The Paper Boy

and The Butler with him instead.

But in the meantime, I had done a film called

Middle of Nowhere with Ava DuVernay.

That came about because I was on my way

to do re-shoots for a film called

Rise of the Planet of the Apes,

and I sat down next to a guy who happened

to be watching Spooks on his iPad.

And he looked at me, looked at his iPad,

looked at me again, paused his iPad

and said, Is this you I'm watching on my iPad?

I said, Oh yeah, that's me.

He said, Oh, okay, you're an actor.

Give me some advice.

I've been asked to put some money

into a film called Middle of Nowhere,

do you think that's a good idea?

I said, Well, send me the script.

I'll tell you if it's a good idea.

He sent me the script.

I loved it so much

that I flipped to the front of the script,

and it said Ava DuVernay and her cell number was on it.

I called her when I got off the plane

having done my re-shoots,

and I said, I've just read your script.

It's incredible.

Can I be in it?

And Ava told me that I was actually

on her list of people she wanted for this

but she thought I would never do it

because I do these bigger movies.

Anyway, we went on to do this film.

We made it for $200,000

and Ava ended up winning Best Director at Sundance.

I knew, doing that film,

that I had been in the midst of a genius.

And I went on to find out that her dad

was actually from Lowndes County

which is the County between Selma and Montgomery

which is where the Selma March took place.

I thought this is the person to direct this film.

I took her name to both Pathe and Plan B

who were the production companies on Selma.

Because I had got cast by Lee Daniels

even though Lee moved on,

I stuck with the project.

They said, Well, who is Ava DuVernay?

I said, She just won Best Director at Sundance.

Okay, what's this film you guys did?

Middle of Nowhere.

How much did you make it for?

$200,000, David, this is a $20 million movie.

We can't give that to someone who's made this small film.

I said, See the film.

They saw the film.

They agreed with me that this

was an incredibly talented lady.

But again, it was the budget.

The genius thing Ava said

which really got things moving is, she said,

Okay, give me a budget, whatever budget you give me

I will back into that number.

Whatever money there is to make it,

I will make it for that.

So, it eroded all the excuses not to make the movie.

In the meantime, I had done The Butler with

Oprah Winfrey as my mother, I had played her son.

That was the film I did with Lee Daniels instead.

I told her about my ambition of playing Dr. King.

She said, I truly believe that is part of your destiny.

And I will do everything I can to help you achieve it.

So, even though Ava came on board to make the film

we were still struggling to get it off the ground.

I called Oprah.

I said, I'm going to call you on that thing you said.

I need you to be a producer on this film.

She said, What does that mean?

I said, I just need you to be part of this film.

She came on board and that is ultimately what

gave Paramount the confidence to make Selma in 2014,

seven years after I had first read the script.

When you think about the fact that

I met Ava who has become such a huge figure

in my life personally, but a huge person

in terms of my career,

I only met her because I sat next to the right guy

on the right plane at the right time.

I would never probably have met her.

Literally, if I sat in the row behind this guy

I probably would never have met her.

And Ava would never have directed Selma

which of course would be a tragedy.

I say no more!

[Crowd] No more!

[Martin] No more!

Am I ready?

You belong here.

I had done studio movies, but playing smaller roles.

You know, Jack Reacher, The Help,

Rise of the Planet of the Apes.

I had not yet played a sort of leading role

in a studio movie, even Selma

sort of had an indie vibe to it.

Queen of Katwe was very much being made by Disney.

You know, as I had said to you before

I'd done The Last King of Scotland

which was one of the first films,

which was the very first film, I had made in Africa.

And that was a huge source of pride for me

but it was about a dictator, which is,

you could argue is part of the negative side

of Africa that is of course true,

but is more prevalent in terms of what

we see around the world.

What you'd definitely never seen before

in a studio movie was an 11-year-old

chess prodigy who was growing up in a slum,

but who was a genius.

And so, that was something that really spoke to me

especially as I had, you know

I'm one of three boys in terms of my parents.

They had three sons.

I had, at that point, three sons myself,

and then I had a daughter, and my heart kind of exploded.

I mean, I love my sons deeply,

but to suddenly have a daughter

was this earth-shattering thing.

And so Queen of Katwe, when I read the script,

really I made that as a love letter to my daughter.

Because the film is about a young girl recognizing

and realizing and being supported

in being everything she can be.

Fulfilling the total and the totality of her potential.

And that of course is something I want for my daughter.

And this film illustrated that so beautifully.

Coach, is this heaven?

No, heaven is a bit higher.

That race must have no bearing on equality and justice!

A United Kingdom was a project for me

that just meant so, so much partly

because from a representation point of view

I had never seen a leader, a king,

a man of integrity who was a leader of his people

of this nature on film.

But what I loved about the story

of Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams is

that it was just a love story.

A fairy tale-like a love story that

just happened to be a true story.

And I was very, very adamant

that it would get told and get told, right?

And like Selma, it was another film that took seven years.

From the first time I was handed a book called Colour Bar

to us actually getting A United Kingdom.

Selma really taught me what being a producer is.

And basically you roll your sleeves up

and you do not stop until you get that thing made.

And part of that is wheeling out your Rolodex.

And I've done that on all the films

I've gone on to produce.

And A United Kingdom was definitely a case in point.

I had done Jack Reacher with Rosamund Pike.

We had become great friends doing that film.

And so, yeah, I made a phone call.

The thing I did is I actually didn't send her the script

because what you would normally do,

I just sent her an image of Seretse Khama and Ruth Williams,

and she emailed me right back saying

I'm looking at these two people and I'm crying

and I don't know why.

Tell me more.

And that was pretty much how Rosamund came on board.

And Amma Asante, who ended up directing the film.

And having those two ladies on board

really was the rocket fuel we needed to get the film done.

I love this land!

But I love my wife!

Imagine what it must be like to see the whole world.

To sail the Indian ocean and the Pacific.

Earlier in my career, there were opportunities

that simply were not being afforded Black actors.

It is actually why my dad was really

resistant to me being an actor.

He just didn't see enough evidence of success,

and so he was really concerned about

me choosing this as a career,

but as, you know, during the 20 years

or so of my career thus far,

I have now watched as myself and other actors,

some of who are younger than me,

are now being afforded opportunities

the likes of which were not there before.

Come Away is an example of the kind of film

that I just simply would not have been

offered earlier on in my career.

It's a film that wonderfully and imaginatively

brings together the worlds of Alice

from Alice in Wonderland

and Peter from Peter Pan,

and makes them brother and sister.

And Brenda Chapman approached me to play their father.

And in doing that it was evident that

both these iconic characters, fictional characters

were going to be played by kids of color.

Kids who look like me when I was growing up.

Kids who look like my kids now.

And that was just a beautiful thing

to see and be a part of.

So, there was between the very imaginative concept,

the great script, the fact that I was being approached

with a role the likes of which I hadn't in the past,

there were just so many reasons to say yes.

It's a bit of a theme in my career

which is an odd discussion with my wife

that I keep on choosing these onscreen wives for myself,

but Angie and I had been friends for quite a while.

We met at a birthday party

and we really connected over the fact

of having a bunch of kids.

She has six, I have four.

And we would occasionally have these play dates

with all 10 of them running around causing havoc.

You know, I got to really see her as a mother,

but funnily enough Nightingale

which we talked about earlier on,

was a film that she saw

and she expressed jealousy at the fact that

I get to do independent films

and that's something that rarely comes her way.

So, between seeing her as this mother,

knowing that she very rarely gets to play mothers,

and her saying that she never gets offered independent film,

I basically called her bluff when this script came my way.

They saw my passion for it,

and I came on board as a producer

and I approached Angie and I said,

Okay, I'm offering you an independent film

where you get to play a mom.

What do you think?

And within four days of approaching her

she was on board the project.

As an actor I think of myself, primarily,

as a storyteller which is why whether

it's producing, directing, writing, or acting,

they are all headed in the same direction

which is basically getting a story told.

I've come to recognize just how powerful a tool

it is for shifting culture.

And as a Black person who has faced prejudice

and who looks at the world

and sees both its beauty

and how it can sometimes be beastly,

storytelling is more to me than just entertainment.

It is culture.

It is history.

It is education.

And so to be part of that is something I hugely value

and don't take for granted.

So, whether I'm part of telling the story

in front of the camera or behind the camera

it's always about its cultural impact for me

because I know that that is something that is the case

whether we like it or not.

It's just a reality.

Starring : David Oyelowo

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David Oyelowo

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David Oyelowo (born 1 April 1976 in Oxford) is an English actor of Nigerian descent.

Oyelowo is best known for playing MI5 officer Danny Hunter in the British TV drama series Spooks (known in North America as MI-5) from 2002 to 2004.

External links [ ]

• David Oyelowo on Wikipedia
• David Oyelowo on Internet Movie Database
• 1 Tom Quinn
• 2 Ros Myers
• 3 Zafar Younis

'Spooks' is the best British spy series ever: Fact

Over ten seasons no spy series delivered more thrills than 'spooks'. but what exactly makes it the best british spy series ever.

Source: SBS

There’s a great cast

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Former Spooks star David Oyelowo is ‘honoured’ by OBE

Former Spooks star David Oyelowo said receiving an OBE for services to drama feels like a “full-circle moment”.

The Oxford-born actor, who has received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in the acclaimed HBO drama Nightingale , recalled how at 18, the Prince’s Trust gave him a grant of £325 so he could join a youth theatre production that his parents could not afford.

David and his wife Jessica (DAVID CROTTY/AP/Press Association Images)

He said: “That production set me on the path to becoming an actor.

“To be honoured by the Queen in this way having been aided by her son’s charity feels like a beautiful full-circle moment.”

In a review of Nightingale, the New York Times described his performance as “nothing less than amazing”.

In the race for the 2015 Academy Awards, many felt David had been snubbed after he failed to receive a nomination for his role as Martin Luther King Jr in Selma.

He revealed in an interview with The Independent that Hollywood star Brad Pitt had been equally unimpressed that he had not been nominated.

David at this year’s Academy Awards (John Shearer/AP/Press Association Images)

He told The Independent: “We’d filmed Nightingale by this point but it’s an unusual piece and we were struggling to get film festival distribution.

“It had been sent to Brad Pitt’s production company Plan B but, as you know, he’s a very busy man so he hadn’t found time to watch it.

“Then the Oscar nominations were read and Brad was so unhappy about the snub to Selma that he decided to watch Nightingale that day, and he then took it to HBO and said ‘you have to believe in this film’.”

The 39-year-old actor may be one of Hollywood’s leading talents but he began his career in the UK, performing in theatre before landing a part in BBC TV spy drama, Spooks .

He played MI5 officer Danny Hunter from 2002 to 2004, and took supporting roles in films such as Lincoln, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, The Paperboy, Jack Reacher and The Butler.

David and Oprah Winfrey (John Shearer/Invision/Press Association Images)

He recently spoke passionately about diversity on UK screens.

He said: “It’s time for a change, but the question is: What needs to change in order for the frustrating regression of diversity on British television to cease?”

The actor is a patron of the TriForce Creative Network, which supports and empowers people from diverse backgrounds.

“There are fantastic British film producers who are white and who feel passionate about the issue of diversity," he says.

“But the point remains that no one is going to be as passionate about telling your stories and your history as you are.”

David with Ava DuVernay. director of the film “Selma” (Chris Pizzello/Invision/Press Association Images)

It was announced a few months ago that David would narrate the new James Bond novel, "Trigger Mortis", by Anthony Horowitz.

He follows in the footsteps of other actors who have narrated Bond novels, including Kenneth Branagh , Hugh Bonneville , Tom Hiddleston and Rosamund Pike .

He said: “Anthony Horowitz has crafted a taut thriller with a fascinating cast of characters and stunning action sequences that I am relishing bringing to life.

“It is an acting challenge as exciting to me as any I have faced on stage or screen. I get to play James Bond! It doesn’t get much better than that.”

The 2016 Golden Globes will see him go head-to-head with fellow Brit and Luther star Idris Elba in the best performance by an actor in a limited series or motion picture made for television category.

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David Oyelowo: ‘We had an illegal amount of fun doing Spooks. We all stay in touch’

The star of the BBC’s new Les Misérables adaptation on colour-blind casting, his love for his breakthrough show, and how playdates with Angelina Jolie’s children influenced his new film

D avid Oyelowo, 42, was born in Oxford to Nigerian parents and graduated from Lamda. He became the first black actor to portray an English monarch for the RSC and got his screen break in the BBC spy drama Spooks . Now based in LA with his family, he was nominated for a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Martin Luther King Jr in Selma . This Christmas, he stars as Javert in the BBC’s six-part adaptation of Les Misérables .

Were you a fan of Les Misérables ? My only relationship with the story had been the film, so when I was approached about Javert, my mind went to a boo-hiss villain. I was initially trepidatious about playing that kind of one-dimensional character over six hours of television, but that concern was quickly alleviated by reading Andrew Davies’s adaptation, which is much more layered. Then when I read Victor Hugo’s book , I was bowled over by how well Andrew had captured it.

Aren’t there similarities between Javert and his nemesis, Valjean ? That’s exactly how I see it and that’s certainly alluded to in the novel. In some ways, Valjean represents what Javert could have been. Javert was born in prison to criminals but has chosen the opposite path. You can argue there’s an element of self-hatred there.

In your version, there’s also some beard rivalry between them . Well, yeah. And Javert seems obsessed with how strong Valjean is. I feel like they had an arm wrestle at some point and Valjean won.

How was it working with Dominic West, who plays Valjean? We’re both ambassadors for the Prince’s Trust so we’d met before, mostly at Buckingham Palace. So it was completely antithetical to meet again amid the mud, blood and sweat of the prison hulks. Dominic’s a phenomenal choice for the role and a great guy. You have to like and trust each other to be that nasty. We spend a lot of time glowering at each other but there are many outtakes of us cracking into giggles.

It’s a dramatic version, not a musical one, but could you burst into song if you had to? I like a good warble. I’ve done musicals in the past and intend to do them in future. But here I hope viewers get swept away by the epic storytelling, rather than missing the tunes.

Might people criticise the colour-blind casting as “typical BBC political correctness”? You can’t please everyone. Some people will applaud the way we’ve chosen to tell the story. Everyone else can go and read the book.

You get to wear a lot of period hats, too. There’s a whole bunch of hat work. I was nervous about the Napoleonic one I wear in the later episodes. That’s a difficult hat to pull off. A bit like wearing one of those paper boats you’d make at primary school.

You’ve just finished shooting a film called Come Away. Tell us about that. There’s more hat-work in that, actually. I had a very period summer – parked myself in the 19th century and stayed there. It’s a reimagined origin story of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan , with them conceived as brother and sister. Angelina Jolie and I play their parents. We suffer a tragedy and our children use their rich imaginations to try and pull us out of despair.

Weren’t you already friends with Angelina Jolie via children’s playdates? She’s got six kids, I’ve got four, and they’ve got together in the past to wreak havoc. I’m a producer on Come Away and really had seen Angie mostly as a mother because that had been my interaction with her. I asked her if she’d like to do it and she relished the prospect. She’d never actually played a mother who interacts with her children on screen before. We had a blast.

You starred in crime caper Gringo earlier this year. Apparently you made co-star Charlize Theron pee herself? That’s going to be my claim to fame. I’ve never actually seen that happen before – someone literally pee themselves from laughing. It was extraordinary. Lovely Charlize. I’m sure she’s very happy we’re discussing this!

You’re British-American-African. Which is worse from your viewpoint, Brexit or Trump? Gosh, they’re both quite egregious in my opinion. At least I don’t have to choose where I live because both places are pretty challenging.

The first thing many of us saw you in was Spooks – do you have fond memories? Very. We all stay in touch. I just reached out to Keeley [Hawes] because I loved Bodyguard. I recently did Othello in New York and Matthew [Macfadyen] came to see me. It’s where my screen career started and those guys are part of a formative time in my life. We were in our 20s, not long out of drama school, and had an illegal amount of fun doing that show.

You once said you won’t play “the black best friend” or do superhero movies. Do you still have rules about the roles you take? I try to stay away from anything that feels obvious. I don’t want to do anything derivative, cliched or stereotypical because images are political. They inform how people view people like me. My other rule is not to do anything that flies in the face of how I’m raising my kids. I’ll do things that are dark in tone but I gravitate towards things that have redemptive, life-affirming qualities.

There’s often talk of who’ll be the first black James Bond but technically you were first, right? I don’t think it’s fair to count an audiobook! That doesn’t quite give me the right to stake a claim. But to me, all that conversation signifies is that the audience is ready to see different kinds of people in those roles. We’re seeing that with our Les Mis, with Black Panther, with all sorts of things. The gatekeepers have had the keys taken away and they’re firmly in the hands of viewers now. It’s an exciting time with different voices emerging.

After Martin Luther King, are there any other historical figures on your bucket list to play? I’m going to do a film about the boxer Sugar Ray Robinson – the best pound-for-pound fighter who ever lived. I’ve been fascinated by him for a long time.

Do you get a break over Christmas? I do, although I’m also directing my first film next April, a coming-of-age story called The Water Man , so I’ll be sneaking off to do some prep for that and hoping my wife doesn’t get annoyed with me.

Les Misérables starts on BBC1 at 9pm on Sunday 30 December

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Lawmen: Bass Reeves Trailer: Watch David Oyelowo Confront 'Killers' and 'Thieves' in the Wild West

Donald Sutherland and Dennis Quaid also star in the Paramount+ series based on the truth story of Reeves, who rose from enslavement to become the first Black U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River

David Oyelowo ’s new Western is on its way. 

Paramount+ dropped the official trailer for Lawmen: Bass Reeves on Tuesday, teasing plenty of action and star power with Dennis Quaid and Donald Sutherland among the cast.

Oyelowo. 47, plays legendary Wild West lawman , a former slave who gained his freedom to become the first Black U.S. Marshal west of the Mississippi River. The actor is also executive producer of the series.

In the trailer, Oyelowo finds himself grappling with the burdens of the badge — particularly when it comes to his family.

“I took an oath to protect everyone,” Reeves says. “I ain’t about to quit this.”

Lauren Smith/Paramount+

Quaid, 69, makes a charismatic appearance alongside Oyelowo in the trailer as Deputy U.S. Marshall Sherrill Lynn, and utherland, 88, portrays Judge Parker in the series — which is considered part of the Yellowstone universe.

The cast of also includes Garrett Hedlund , Lauren E. Banks, Demi Singleton, Forrest Goodluck, and Barry Pepper .

Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Executive producer and showrunner, Chad Feehan, shared how the idea for the series began following the release of the trailer on Tuesday.

“Growing up in Texas, I heard a lot of stories about Bass Reeves,” he explained. “Somewhere in my childhood, that myth of Bass took firm root in my consciousness and never left. Then one day, David Oyelowo invited me to dinner. He explained his seven-year journey to tell Bass’s story, where the myth of the man both converged with and separated from reality and why Bass’s life was more relevant than ever.”

Sarah Coulter/Paramount+

"I immediately went home and scoured the internet, read books, and listened to podcasts. I became obsessed with what I didn’t know, with all of the nooks and crannies of Bass’ remarkable life that aren’t regularly shared,” Feehan continued. “That spark of obsession morphed into a raging Fire of determination, fueled by my desire to assist David in honoring the legacy of Deputy US Marshal Bass Reeves.”

Feehan added, “More than anything, David, I, and many others sought to tell a story about the human condition and its undeniable universality, the emotionality that connects all of us.”

The new series is also executive produced by Oyelowo’s wife Jessica Oyelowo alongside Yellowstone visionary Taylor Sheridan , David C. Glasser, David Permut, Christina Alexandra Voros, Ron Burkle, Bob Yari, David Hutkin. 

The show joins a long list of titles written and produced by Sheridan on Paramount+, including 1923 , 1883 , Mayor of Kingstown and Tulsa King . 

Quaid confirmed his role in the Lawmen: Bass Reeves back in January.

"Reeves was known as the greatest frontier hero in American history and also believed to be the inspiration for The Lone Ranger ," Quaid wrote as he discussed the importance of Reeves as a character at the time. "He worked in the post-Reconstruction era as a federal peace officer in the Indian Territory, capturing over 3,000 of the most dangerous criminals without ever being wounded."

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Lawmen: Bass Reeves premieres Nov. 5 on Paramount+.

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The Many Bookish Roles of David Oyelowo

Christy Childers

Christy Childers is a writer obsessed with books, travel, British television, & superheroes. She has lived in Seattle, Minneapolis, Chicago, & England, & is never happier than when she's visiting a new country or reading a new book. Blog: Postcards to Authors Twitter: ChildersChristy

View All posts by Christy Childers

The first time I saw David Oyelowo was in the BBC show Spooks in the early 2000s. (In the States it’s called MI-5 and you can watch it on Netflix. Do it. It’s good.)

And of course, this year saw him transformed very convincingly into Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Oscar-nominated film Selma .

In between those two roles, David Oyelowo (it’s pronounced just like it looks: “oh-yeh-lo-wo”) has been in a pile of movies and TV shows, many of which are based on books. Here are a few of his many bookish roles.

The Last King of Scotland by Giles Foden is a novel based on the true story of Idi Amin and his horrific dictatorship in Uganda. In the film, David Oyelowo plays Dr. Junju, who heroically rescues another doctor (played by James McAvoy) from torture so he can escape and tell the world the true story of what Idi Amin is doing. (Idi Amin is played brilliantly by Forest Whittaker. He won an Oscar for his performance in 2007.)

It’s (obviously) not a light story; but oh man, it’s a good one.

As You Like It

David Oyelowo plays Orlando De Boys in this version of good ol’ Shakespeare’s As You Like It , directed by Kenneth Branagh.

A Raisin in the Sun is the classic play by Lorraine Hansberry about a family growing up on Chicago’s South Side. There have been many versions of this play on Broadway and in the movies- this one was made for TV in 2008 and starred Sean Combs, Sanaa Lathan, Audra McDonald, Phylicia Rashad, and of course, David Oyelowo.

Alexander McCall Smith’s The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency , about a woman who opens her own detective agency in Botswana, was made into a TV series by the BBC in conjunction with HBO. (It was filmed on location in Botswana, which is awesome as it’s one of the only shows to be actually filmed there.)

Preacher Green is played by David Oyelowo in the film based on the bestselling novel The Help by Kathryn Stockett, with Emma Stone, Viola Davis, and Octavia Spencer.

Jack Reacher

David Oyelowo tries to hunt down Tom Cruise in the film based on One Shot , which is one of many Jack Reacher books by Lee Child.

Lee Daniel’s The Butler was based on an article by Wil Haygood, which he later expanded into the book The Butler: A Witness to History . David Oyelowo plays the oldest son of the butler, played by Forest Whitaker; a man who witnessed a whole lot of history in his 34 years in the White House.

So there you have it – the many bookish roles of David Oyelowo. And here are a few quick honorable mentions:

There is also a film in pre-production right now based on the book Queen of Katwe by Tim Crothers, which tells the story of a young girl in Uganda who decides to train to become a world chess champion. It’s due out in 2016 and stars David Oyelowo alongside the lovely Lupita Nyong’o.

Also! He has apparently signed on to star with Lupita Nyong’o again in Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah . Something to look forward to!

____________________

Did you know that Book Riot has a  YouTube channel ? We do. It’s new and we are having fun with it. Check it out  here .

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David Oyelowo Is TV's Next Badass In First Trailer For Taylor Sheridan's Lawmen: Bass Reeves, And I Bet Yellowstone's Duttons Would Agree

Rootin', tootin', shootin' 'n' bootin': Bass Reeves don't play, y'all.

With several upcoming Yellowstone shows on his creative deck, Taylor Sheridan ’s next TV offering, the anthology-sparking Lawmen: Bass Reeves , comes from the dedicated efforts of star and executive producer David Oyelowo and creator Chat Feehan. The Paramount+ original released its first official trailer, as seen above, and I think everyone watching will agree it looks like it’ll stand proudly next to 1883 as another powerful and pulse-pounding frontier tale on the streaming platform. And Oyelowo’s badassery cannot be denied, even alongside the entirety of the Dutton family tree.

Anyone who isn’t already familiar with the legend of real-life Deputy U.S. Marshal Bass Reeves is in for quite an education, although everyone who is familiar will also be entertained, as Lawmen is covering the full storytelling gamut. It’s been a years-in-the-making passion project for Oyelowo to bring some form of Reeves’ story to the screen, and he naturally commands the shit out of the screen anytime he’s featured. 

The trailer features flashbacks of Reeves’ days as a criminal-thwarting federal peace officer in Arkansas, as well as his present-day tale (so to speak), in which he’s enlisted as a Deputy U.S. Marshal by Donald Sutherland’s domineering Judge Parker. To overly generalize things, the show focuses on David Oyelowo ’s character tracking bad guys and shutting shit down with a team of fellow badasses on horseback, such as Dennis Quaid’s Marshal Sherrill Lynn and Barry Pepper’s Esau Pierce.

Pepper’s grizzled character looks like he knows a million ways to skin someone alive, which kinda runs counter to the emotion-dampening stoicism that Reeves brings. As a Black authority figure during that time period, there wasn’t much room to show any amount of weakness, and the performance delivers in full on that front. Not that he isn’t showing some emotion when using an assortment of weapons to take down thieves and other ne'er-do-wells, but those moments only get teased out in tiny pieces. 

I’d be remiss if I showered all the praise on Oyelowo (who shares co-producing honors with wife Jessica Oyelowo) without spreading those props out to also include co-star Lauren E. Banks ( City on a Hill ) as Jennie Reeves, who clearly knows how to hold her own ground in the face of seemingly certain doom at the gnarled hands of a group of hooded white folk. “Then I’ll just shoot you twice, just to be safe,” gets all the snaps and pops and crackles. He best get off that woman’s land before his last thought ends up splattered across his buddies’ hoods. 

Let’s give it up for that dude who was totally on fire in there, too. Because that’s gotta suck.

Along with the new trailer, Lawmen: Bass Reeves creator Chad Feehan shared a message that pointed out exactly why he’s at the show’s helm, from a Texas childhood fascination with the stories, to crossing paths with the fervent David Oyelowo, to a renewed thrust of research. And here’s how he explained what all that effort and energy became:

Our story explores the lawman, the husband, the father; it begins with enslavement and carries through Reconstruction to the first cruel whispers of Jim Crow; it contains some of the well-known tales, some of the untold tales and a fair share of fictional tales that fill-in the in-between. But more than anything, David, I and many others sought to tell a story about the human condition and its undeniable universality, the emotionality that connects all of us.

The original release plan for Bass Reeves was as a second season of 1883 , which otherwise doesn’t appear to be continuing. But plans changed down the line, as the idea became more about celebrating the lawmen of yesteryear, without the need to tether the story to the Yellowstone universe. I wouldn’t have hated seeing some connective tissue between these worlds, as ridiculous as that might be where real-world people are concerned. I suppose it could still happen, though, so I’m keeping hope alive to see someone in the Dutton clan marveling at how much of a badass Oyelowo is.

Lawmen: Bass Reeves is set to begin streaming on Sunday, November 5, with its first two episodes available for everyone with a Paramount+ subscription . Head to our 2023 TV premiere schedule to see what other new and returning shows are galloping towards us next. 

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David Oyelowo: ‘It got pretty dark. My wife and I were down to our last $3’

At the rsc david oyelowo was hailed as ‘the new olivier’. then spooks brought mainstream fame. but when the big roles failed to materialise, he abandoned london for los angeles. the actor tells ben machell how oprah winfrey turned his life around.

I meet David Oyelowo in a photographer’s studio in London, not so far from the Islington council estate where he grew up. He moved to Los Angeles more than a decade ago – “I had to sort of replant myself,” he says, smiling – but he’s back in the UK filming a sci-fi series for Apple TV and promoting a slick four-part BBC psychological thriller called The Girl Before , in which he plays a very intense, very charismatic architect with a suitably dark secret. “He’s a guy who suffers from repetition compulsion, who has suffered this huge tragedy and is trying to manipulate his life by using this home he built as a honeytrap, to attract women who are reminiscent of his wife,” he

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Profile menu, justice is served in lawmen: bass reeves trailer starring david oyelowo.

Lawmen: Bass Reeves tells the story of the first Black deputy U.S. marshal west of the Mississippi, with David Oyelowo stepping into Reeves' spurs.

In the newly released full trailer for the series, executive-produced by Oyelowo and Yellowstone 's Taylor Sheridan , Reeves rides again before officially saddling up Nov. 5 on Paramount+.

"Growing up in Texas, I heard a lot of stories about Bass Reeves," series creator and showrunner Chad Feehan said in a statement accompanying the new promo. "They were always akin to a dime novel hero with incredibly fanciful flourishes of a gunslinging lawman pursuing the most-hardened outlaws in the Wild West. Somewhere in my childhood that myth of Bass took firm root in my consciousness and never left."

Feehan recalled having dinner with Oyelowo, who had been working for a better part of a decade to tell Reeves' story, and being inspired to join him on that journey.

"Our story explores the lawman, the husband, the father," Feehan said. "It begins with enslavement and carries through Reconstruction to the first cruel whispers of Jim Crow; it contains some of the well-known tales, some of the untold tales and a fair share of fictional tales that fill-in the in-between."

The cast of Bass Reeves includes Dennis Quaid as fellow U.S. Deputy Marshal Sherrill Lynn; Lauren E. Banks as Reeves' wife, Jennie; Demi Singleton as his daughter, Sally; Barry Pepper as Esau Pierce, leader of the 1st Cherokee Mounted Rifles; Forrest Goodluck as Billy Crow, a young Cherokee man with an affinity for dime store books and gaudy style; and Donald Sutherland as Judge Isaac Parker, who first recruited Reeves as a marshal.

Oyelowo previously told EW , "My goal, my hope, my ambition for this has always been to have an opportunity to contextualize the contribution of Black people to this country in a way that colors outside of the lines of what we have normally seen."

He continued, "I really hope that, especially as we get so many slave narratives in this period, this is one of empowerment — literally — this man is empowered, and he takes that power and he uses it for the good of his community and his country. And that's really what I hope people are left with at the end of the show."

Watch the new trailer above.

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• David Oyelowo lays down the law in first look at  Lawmen: Bass Reeves
• 1883  spin-off will focus on legendary Black lawman Bass Reeves, inspiration behind the Lone Ranger

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Spooks race row as David Oyelowo claims ‘problematic’ bosses blocked him from lead role because viewers ‘weren’t ready’

• Robert Mann
• Published : 15:56, 6 Dec 2021
• Updated : 16:00, 6 Dec 2021
• Published : Invalid Date,

SPOOKS has drawn accusations of racism after actor David Oyelowo claimed bosses blocked him from taking on a lead role - because viewers “weren’t ready” for it.

Following the exit of stars Matthew Mcfadyen and Keeley Hawes, David claimed the producers denied him the chance to take on a bigger role - a move which he claims was “racially tinged”.

In an exclusive interview with The Times , the Golden Globe-nominated actor looked back on his time as MI5 agent Danny Hunter with the popular spy series.

When Macfadyen and Hawes left the show after three seasons, the Selma star felt it was ”a fairly natural transition in terms of the storyline” for him to progress to lead status, and admitted that he felt he “had leverage” - but that was not to be.

He explained: “It was expressed to me that that wasn’t going to happen. That the audience supposedly wasn’t ‘ready’ for that.

“And I felt that was racially tinged.”

Oyelowo alleged that when he then informed the show’s producers that he would be leaving, they cautioned against it in a way he felt was “problematic”.

He recalled:”‘It was communicated to me that I was making a mistake because I wasn’t recognising where I needed to stay. I found that very problematic.”

The Sun has contacted the BBC and Spooks producers Kudos for comment.

Spooks was a flagship drama for the BBC for ten seasons - from 2002 to 2011 - and featured stars including Rupert Penry Jones, Nicola Walker, Hermione Norris and Peter Firth.

It also made the leap to the big screen in 2015 with Spooks: The Greater Good, starring Game of Thrones actor Kit Harrington.    

Since Spooks, stage-trained Oyelowo has found success in America as well as the UK, with parts in films including The Last King of Scotland, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, The Butler and Selma, in which he portrayed Martin Luther King Jr.

In June 2020, Selma director Ava DuVernay backed Oyelowo’s claims that Academy members said they wouldn’t vote for critically-acclaimed civil rights film.

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It came as they looked for justice for Eric Garner, a black man who died after he was placed in a chokehold by a white New York City police officer in 2014.

The death of Garner received renewed attention following the death of George Floyd, and Selma was widely regarded as snubbed when it received no recognition for Oyelowo’s performance or DuVernay’s direction from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 2015 Oscars.

The film was nominated for best picture and won best original song for Glory, however that year’s awards were accused of a lack of diversity after all 20 acting nominees were white.