Latest news with #CrongtonKnights
Telegraph
24-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
Crongton, review: a zippy new adaptation of Alex Wheatle's Crongton Knights series
Are the kids alright? Definitely not is the feeling gripping the nation after Stephen Graham's Netflix hit Adolescence, which is facing calls to be shown in schools thanks to its galvanising storyline about teenage masculinity in crisis. Still, not all TV shows about the lives of young boys are entirely intent on depicting modern adolescence as a dystopian nightmare, at least not all of the time, at any rate. Certainly, Crongton, BBC Three's zippy new 10-part adaptation of Alex Wheatle 's YA series Crongton Knights, set on a fictional housing estate and focusing on a frightened 13-year-old boy caught up in a gang revenge plot, feels determined to warm the heart rather than chill the marrow. Where Adolescence offers no easy answers in depicting the mind-warping horror story of online Incel culture, Crongton serves up street violence, parental neglect and the awful loneliness of being a misunderstood teenager in distractingly lovely, pin-balling video game colours and the odd floating heart emoji. And it's mostly brilliant. It's a tragedy Wheatle, an under-sung YA novelist, never got to see this TV version: he died last week from prostate cancer. Adapted by Archie Maddox, the show notionally devotes each episode to a different teenager at South Crongton Comprehensive, such as Saira, newly arrived from war-torn Syria and Venetia, the daughter of devout Catholic parents still mourning the loss of her cousin to gang violence a year previously, yet determined to flood Crongton with positive vibes. The overarching story, though, belongs to the diminutive Lemar 'Liccle Bit' Jackson, who lives with his mum, older sister, baby nephew and grandmother in a cramped and noisy flat and who falls under the orbit of local gang leader Manjaro after Manjaro showers him with cash and affection. Soon Liccle Bit is hiding weapons in his bedroom and lying to his friends; it's typical of this show's deft deflection of hardcore reality that when he finally confesses what's going on to his mate Mckay, Mckay initially wants nothing to do with Liccle Bit's 'pickle'. Crongton feels properly fresh in its kinetic splicing of grimy naturalism with animated cartoon sequences (an estate brawl is depicted in kapow! style graphics) and the frequent screen raid by video game visuals and mobile phone graphics – a sniper's crossfire; a cascade of confetti. Director Ethosheia Hylton cleverly parallels life as imagined or dreamt of for its young protagonists with its harsher or more prosaic reality – Liccle Bit imagines Manjaro as a horror film villain with diabolic red eyes; a fight with neighbouring gang North Crongton takes places with splurge guns a la Bugsy Malone; the somewhat saintly Venetia dances in the playground as though life is one long heartwarming TikTok video. Meanwhile, the comedy is deliciously oddball – Mckay at one point engages in a roast with an evil cackling dinner lady – and at times downright surreal; science-mad teenager Juniper likes to conduct experiments in the school toilets. It's an ingenious use of disorientation, yes, people on the estate might get 'deleted' with alarming frequency, but Crongton also inhabits a tenderised teenage world quivering with giddy, escapist possibility. Most of the actors are making their TV debut – the producers cast it following a social media open call out – and the approach reaps both rewards and the odd wobble. Yet Samson Agboola sparkles as the baby-faced Liccle Bit, whose features are endearingly wide open and trusting. It's a measure of his performance that he also suggests how quickly Liccle Bit could become another sort of child, had a different path been taken. Maddox struggles to sustain a coherent panorama of estate life across 10 episodes – chapters devoted to periods or to Saira's experiences in Syria feel a bit shoehorned in – while the gang culture backstory, which involves a murder in a nightclub, conversely feels squashed. But if Adolescence is essential watching for parents, then Crongton is a pretty good equivalent for their offspring: a fizzing drama about choice and responsibility in which the kids might – just might – turn out alright.
The Independent
20-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Upcoming BBC Crongton show will become ‘loving tribute' to author Alex Wheatle
The upcoming BBC show Crongton will become a 'loving tribute' to author Alex Wheatle following his death at the age of 62. The author, who was known as the 'Brixton Bard', was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2023, and campaigned for awareness of the condition. He wrote a string of books about life on London's streets for young black men including the Crongton series, about children growing up on a council estate and facing gang wars and other struggles. He died on Sunday, March 16, his family said, – more than a week before the first series of Crongton is due to air on the BBC on Monday. Patricia Hidalgo, director of BBC children's and education, said with the 'blessing' of Wheatle's family they will air the show as a 'celebration of Alex's incredible life and powerful stories that mean so much to so many young people'. She also said: 'We feel incredibly privileged to have worked with Alex on the adaptation of his award-winning Crongton Knights books, whose young characters leap off the page in their vibrant portrayals of the highs and lows of growing up in modern Britain.' The show's production company New Pictures said: 'Alex's warmth, generosity and humour shone out through his writing, and his work will continue to touch so many lives. 'We are so honoured to have played a part in bringing the world of Alex's Crongton books to life and the show remains a loving tribute to him.' Born on January 3 1963, Wheatle grew up in children's homes and began by writing lyrics then progressed to poetry, short stories and novels. He was also known for being part of the 1981 Brixton riot – which saw him being sent to prison, and inspired Sir Steve McQueen to direct the film Alex Wheatle about the writer's life for the anthology series Small Axe. The actor who played him, Sheyi Cole, wrote in an Instagram story that he was 'indebted' to Wheatle, and his 'story became my story'. Wheatle would later contribute to the BBC programme Battle For Brixton, and put out the fiction book East Of Acre Lane about the riot. His first novel, Brixton Rock, about a troubled London teenager getting to grips with finding his family, was published in 1999. His family posted on his Instagram, saying: 'Alex's family would like to thank you all for your support over the years in his work and we ask that you respect our privacy during this difficult time.' Author Dorothy Koomson, known for the novel and TV drama The Ice Cream Girls, wrote on Instagram that she was 'heartbroken'. She added: 'He was a wonderful person and writer. A brilliant and empathetic human being. He leaves an incredible legacy. Lots of love to those who were closest to him. Rest in peace and glory, Alex.' Fellow Prostate Cancer UK supporter and actor Colin McFarlane said he was 'shocked and saddened', and said that he 'talked about the desperate need for a national screening programme' with Wheatle. 'Prostate cancer is curable if it is diagnosed earlier, and one day I hope we can stop losing brilliant men like Alex to this disease,' he added. Wheatle joined Prostate Cancer UK in calling for the Government to overhaul NHS guidelines around prostate cancer, to lead to more diagnosis. Keith Morgan, associate director of Black Health Equity at Prostate Cancer UK, said he was 'proud to have worked with him later in life as he used his platform, and his own shocking late-stage diagnosis, to raise vital awareness of prostate cancer and campaign for change'. He added that one in four 'black men will get prostate cancer, double the risk of other men', and said that men like Wheatle 'are dying twice as much from a cancer that is treatable if caught early'. When he received his honour in 2008 for services to literature, Wheatle said: 'I know some people might say the MBE's got 'empire' on it, but there is no British empire any more. 'But more importantly, it shows young kids coming up that they can achieve and you can be successful.' On Instagram, publisher Hachette Children's Group said they were 'incredibly saddened', and added that he 'leaves behind a legacy of rich and powerful' stories.
