The Boy With The Topknot, BBC Two review ★★★★★
Times journalist Sathnam Sanghera’s charming autobiography has been masterfully adapted for BBC Two
Boy with the Topknot, BBC Two review
The story of Times journalist Sathnam Sanghera, and that of his first-generation Indian immigrant family making a life for themselves in Wolverhampton, is extraordinary in how ordinary – and yet how unspoken – stories like these are.
The BBC have received praise for bringing Sathnam's story to the small screen. But moralising isn't going to get people to sit down with a cup of tea and a biscuit on a Monday night.
Don't watch it because you think you should. Watch it because this tale of a young man struggling to make a place for himself in two different cultural worlds is a masterclass in storytelling.
The BBC has adapted Sathnam's autobiography, Boy with the Topknot, into a moving television film about how, as a young adult, a break-up caused by a reluctance to introduce his ex-girlfriend to his parents forced Sathnam to confront his family history.
Born to illiterate Punjabi parents in the West Midlands, Sathnam took himself to Cambridge before becoming a successful journalist working at The Times.
Having escaped from the family home, Sathnam finds himself inhabiting two worlds: one of celebrity interviews and expensive London flats, and another back home with his relatives, who have expectations of him.
Just as Sathnam starts to loose his tight grip over these two spheres of his life, he finds himself turning that fine-tuned journalistic eye onto his own family, and begins for the first time to question and uncover the lives of his mother, his schizophrenic father, and their arranged marriage.
Sacha Dhawan (Sherlock, Iron Fist) charms as the shy and self-doubting Sathnam Sanghera. He's joined by Joanna Vanderham (The Go-Between, Man In An Orange Shirt) who plays the role of his girlfriend Laura with panache. They make highly likeable protagonists.
This is a wonderful tale of cultures, mental health, poverty, illiteracy and 21st century middle England, all told with sensitivity and charm. Perhaps its only flaw is the American-ised, Hollywood ending that has been crow-bared in and doesn't exist in the book.
We need more shows like this, and not just because they're important – but because they're wonderful stories.
The BBC have received praise for bringing Sathnam's story to the small screen. But moralising isn't going to get people to sit down with a cup of tea and a biscuit on a Monday night.
Don't watch it because you think you should. Watch it because this tale of a young man struggling to make a place for himself in two different cultural worlds is a masterclass in storytelling.
The BBC has adapted Sathnam's autobiography, Boy with the Topknot, into a moving television film about how, as a young adult, a break-up caused by a reluctance to introduce his ex-girlfriend to his parents forced Sathnam to confront his family history.
Born to illiterate Punjabi parents in the West Midlands, Sathnam took himself to Cambridge before becoming a successful journalist working at The Times.
Having escaped from the family home, Sathnam finds himself inhabiting two worlds: one of celebrity interviews and expensive London flats, and another back home with his relatives, who have expectations of him.
Just as Sathnam starts to loose his tight grip over these two spheres of his life, he finds himself turning that fine-tuned journalistic eye onto his own family, and begins for the first time to question and uncover the lives of his mother, his schizophrenic father, and their arranged marriage.
Sacha Dhawan (Sherlock, Iron Fist) charms as the shy and self-doubting Sathnam Sanghera. He's joined by Joanna Vanderham (The Go-Between, Man In An Orange Shirt) who plays the role of his girlfriend Laura with panache. They make highly likeable protagonists.
This is a wonderful tale of cultures, mental health, poverty, illiteracy and 21st century middle England, all told with sensitivity and charm. Perhaps its only flaw is the American-ised, Hollywood ending that has been crow-bared in and doesn't exist in the book.
We need more shows like this, and not just because they're important – but because they're wonderful stories.
TRY CULTURE WHISPER
Receive free tickets & insider tips to unlock the best of London — direct to your inbox
| What | The Boy With The Topknot, BBC Two review |
| Where | BBC Two, BBC Two , BBC Two , BBC Two | MAP |
| When |
13 Nov 17 – 31 Dec 17, Boy with the Top Knot arrives on BBC Two Monday 13 November |
| Price | £n/a |
| Website |