In 1999, Malorie Blackman started writing the first book in her groundbreaking young adult series of Noughts & Crosses novels. Blackman’s dystopian fantasy, a take on Romeo and Juliet, flipped racism on its head, casting white people as an oppressed underclass – the Noughts – and black people as the ruling 1 per cent.
The book – which was included in the BBC’s list of the 100 most influential novels of all time and has sold over 1.7 million copies worldwide – follows star-crossed lovers Callum (a Nought) and Sephy (a Cross) and explored racism, classism and the gaping divides in a society blind to its own issues. Blackman named the series as such because: “It’s a game that nobody plays after childhood because nobody ever wins.”
Twenty-one years later, the first novel has been adapted for television for the first time, in a bold new drama for BBC One. “It’s crazy that the issues that Malorie was writing about then are still relevant,” says 23-year-old Masali Baduza, who plays Sephy in the show. “Police brutality, racism – Noughts & Crosses being made into a TV show now is perfect timing because all that feels like it’s at an all-time high.”
“It’s a shame,” adds her co-star Jack Rowan, also 23. “Social media makes racism more prevalent because we see it all the time. I see racist Instagram videos of white American police officers and young black males. Our generation isn’t sheltered from that.”
Rowan was born in London. He first appeared on-screen in the 2015 series of Silent Witness, though he’s best known for his role as Bonnie Gold on Peaky Blinders. His first choice of career was boxing, but he had to take a break from the sport when he injured his back at 17. In a bid to busy himself during his healing period he began acting.
Baduza, meanwhile, who grew up in East London, a city on the southeast coast of South Africa (she now lives in Cape Town), always knew she wanted to be an actor and studied it at the New York Film Academy campus in Los Angeles. Noughts & Crosses is her first professional acting job. “It’s crazy,” she says about getting the role of Sephy. “I’ve never been flown anywhere, but I was brought down to Cape Town and then to London to do a chemistry read with Jack after just one audition.”
Neither had read or even heard of the novel before coming across the scripts for the show, but both agree this helped make the roles their own. “I really wish I’d read it when I was younger,” says Baduza. “But as soon as I started reading it I could see myself as Sephy.” Rowan echoes her feelings, adding, “I didn’t start reading the book until I knew I had the part. It would be too heartbreaking otherwise. But it meant that I had an emotional connection to it right from the beginning.”
One person who had read the book was rapper Stormzy, who has a cameo role in the final episode. Both beam when he’s brought up. “He’s such a nice guy,” says Baduza, while Rowan calls him a “legend”. “The book means so much to him,” he adds [Stormzy namechecks Blackman in his song “Superheroes”].
Filming took place in South Africa, a location with its own painful history of racial discrimination. “Apartheid is taught in history classes, but it’s not compulsory,” explains Baduza. “It should be. It only ended 30 years ago. Some South Africans are still in denial about their history, even though it’s not that far removed from the present day.
“I’m glad Noughts & Crosses will be my debut,” she adds. “It’s such a bold and powerful statement to make.” Rowan agrees. “I’m grateful to be a part of something that won’t be forgotten and can cause some sort of a stir, whether it be positive or negative. It starts conversations.”
He had a different experience, having never learned what Apartheid was, but on set the show’s relevance to South Africa’s recent history couldn’t be avoided. “You can’t not go there and speak to people about what it was like. Local crew members who don’t really know what the story is about would listen to the script and ask if it was set in South Africa.”
Baduza and Rowan have very different experiences of racism. For Baduza, there are too many instances to remember but she does recall a moment in high school where she realised society saw her differently. “There was a list of hairstyles that black girls could have. We couldn’t wear natural afros because it was deemed unprofessional and unkempt. If you broke the rules, you were punished. How can you punish someone for wearing their natural hair?”
For Rowan, on the other hand, discrimination was a second-hand experience. He has never felt the force of it in his own life. “Football hooliganism and films like This Is England made me realise that some people don’t see everyone as equals. Growing up in England, I’ve mostly seen discrimination against Muslims. I never had anyone in my own life like that, but there was definitely a feeling of hate towards Muslim people when I was growing up.”
In Noughts & Crosses, the shoe is on the other foot for both of them, so Baduza and Rowan had a taste of what the other had experienced in real life. Sephy lives with her politicised Cross family, who disagree with her apparently overly-sympathetic views on the Noughts. “It’s a house full of people who refuse to confront their own privilege and choose to live in a bubble,” explains Baduza. “I can’t imagine living with a family I love but who I have a complete disconnect with. It’s heartbreaking to break relationships like that.”
Rowan relates their story to polarised views on Brexit. “The recent politics in the UK, like in Noughts & Crosses, has broken up families and close relationships.”
Stepping into the shoes of an oppressed class taught Rowan about his own prejudice. He feels lucky to have been born into the multicultural hub of England’s capital. But he acknowledges, “I’m a white guy from London. I’ve never had to feel discrimination because I’ve never been exposed to feeling like the odd one out.” To prepare for the role, he took part in a military boot camp where he was the only white participant. Everyone else had been briefed to be hostile towards him, to replicate how the Crosses would feel about a Nought within their ranks.
“No one would talk to me and I was naturally isolated,” he remembers. “Even though it was fictional, it still hurt. That was just the smallest taste of what it feels like to be ‘othered’. It’s frustrating, too, because it’s about things you can’t change – my voice, my skin tone. I walk out of my house and I can’t hide that.”
Baduza knows exactly what he means as this is her everyday life. “You can never explain racism to someone. It’s my lived experience,” she says. “But if someone can see someone who looks like them, going through similar experiences, maybe that will inspire them to make changes in their own communities.
“People can say, ‘I’m not racist because I’ve never said the N word’, but it’s in their microaggressions. When you walk down the street and you clutch your bag a bit tighter if you pass someone who you think is going to steal from you – it’s those little things that we as black people can’t help but see.”
Noughts & Crosses starts on Thursday at 9pm on BBC One. Every episode will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer after the first episode has ended
