Entertainment
The Tower: Jimmy Akingbola admits he was ‘not surprised’ by stories from Black police officers ahead of detective role
Jimmy plays DC Steve Bradshaw in the police drama (Picture: ITV/Stuart Wood)
The Tower star Jimmy Akingbola portrays DC Steve Bradshaw, a Black police officer in the Metropolitan Police and has spoken out on what he found out ahead of filming the show.
Jimmy is joined by a stellar cast for the upcoming series, which has been adapted by Homeland writer and executive producer Patrick Harbinson.
Killing Eve and Game of Thrones star Gemma Whelan, The Fall actor Emmett J Scanlan and Waterloo Road’s Tahirah Sharif in the main cast of the drama based on Kate London’s book, Post Mortem, based on the author’s experiences in the Metropolitan Police.
The three-part series lands on ITV in the coming weeks, to make for the perfect autumn drama but it comes amid ongoing public tensions with the Met and the police in general, including the Black Lives Matter protests take place last summer.
Jimmy explained the appeal of taking on the role, and the immensely important research he did beforehand.
The cast of The Tower (Picture: ITV
Speaking on a recent Q&A ahead of the new programme, Jimmy told Metro.co.uk and other press he was ‘not surprised’ by some of the stories shared to him by those from the force he spoke to.
After his recall, he read Kate’s book before working out how to create a ‘new version’ of his character which fitted into 2021.
The Kate & Koji star shared: ‘The next step was how do we create this new version of Steve that is 2021? Also just in terms of growing up in East London, in Canning Town and a lot of people’s views of the police, I was just obviously intrigued at what is it like for a young Black man like Steve in the police force, and what made him join the police?
‘Again in 2021, after not just last year, all the things that have been going on year after year, how does a man like Steve be in the police force? Kate was really good because she put me in touch with quite a few different police officers.’
He went on to explain he was ‘very particular’ about wanting to speak to young Black police officers, continuing: ‘I spoke to those in their mid-20s to early 30s and then those that have been in it for 15/20 years and it was great.’
But Jimmy said he learnt a lot from the discussions which took place and shared what his feelings were in the aftermath as he prepared for the role.
He noted: ‘One it’s really brave to join the police force, there’s a lot of sacrifices – a couple of police officers told me about their families getting a lot of flack because they joined the police office.
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‘Also, there were some that that had really positive experiences as well. So again, just like our story, it just showed you that it’s not black and white, and I think, I wasn’t surprised, but I was inspired because it’s not easy. It’s much harder.’
It’s not yet known when the ITV drama will come to air but fans are eagerly awaiting the story which starts with a veteran beat cop and a teenage girl falling to their deaths from the roof of a tower block in southeast London.
The Tower comes to ITV later this year.
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