An interview with Levi David Addai

6 May 2014

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Levi David Addai is the writer and creator of Youngers, E4’s hit comedy-drama about a group of southeast London youngsters trying to make it in the urban music world. Here, ahead of the second series, he discusses why he wanted to make an optimistic show, the need for action on diversity, and how he stays up-to-date with the urban scene.

Youngers is back. For those who haven’t seen the first series, what’s the show about?

It’s about young people, a group of friends called Jay, Yemi and Davina, who are trying to make it in the music industry. It’s about their hopes and dreams, and how they’re trying to make it by any means. But, of course, the pressures of life, school, family, the area where they’re from, all get in the way, and it’s not easy. And, being young, there are the relationships and dramas that happen between them as well.

Series one was a hit both critically and with audiences. Were you expecting that? How did it feel?

I guess I knew the show was going to be different to anything people had seen, or what they were expecting. I knew there would be a reaction, and I just hoped that it would be positive. I was really trying to do something new, where you’ve got a show that’s on at 7:30pm, but is also as edgy and fresh as a show that might be on post-watershed. I was really happy that it was well-received, and people enjoyed the characters and saw them for who they were. That was really satisfying for me.

As you say, the show follows the guys trying to make it in music. Are you into the whole urban music scene yourself?

Being brought up in southeast London, it’s kind of all around you. From school, a lot of my friends were involved in music, at college and university. So it was something that was all around me. I was never an MC or anything like that, but I know a lot of people that are, and people who are in other parts of the industry as well. I guess it’s something that was just really universal in these areas. Music is really important to people. It’s something that they use to unwind, something they do for enjoyment, for those that take it seriously it’s a way of expressing themselves, and for young people with limited avenues to express themselves, music is a really good way for them to get their voice out there and hope someone is listening to them.

Do you have people who come in and help you out with the musical side of the show?

Yeah! How it works with Youngers is that I will usually do a pass on the lyrics in the actual script, because sometimes a lot of story is told in the actual lyrics themselves, so it’s easier for me to put them down in the script. And then we’ve got our team from Soundtree, who are a music production company, who come in and flesh out the longer version. And there’s Aiden Hogarth, aka S.K.I.T.Z Beatz, and he’s on board this year as well, working with a grime group who are in the show, and he’ll do full-length versions of their tracks.  So I work on some of the stuff – and particularly with the Youngers, because they’re still growing and stuff, they’re not the polished article as yet, so I get to have fun – I can put in my own little bits, as rough as they are. And then they get a bit polished further down the line by the professionals. So it all kind of works.

So do the full-length tracks get released?

Yeah. The plan this year is to release, I think, eight tracks. I know there’s four already completed. Last year we released four or five tracks, and they were really popular. Someone showed me some YouTube links, and there were all these comments from people trying to find out how they could ‘rip’ the tracks. So the music’s really popular.

You’re 30, which sounds like 60 to the age group you’re writing about. How do you ensure you stay up-to-date with the culture and language that you’re writing about?

It’s funny, I’ve turned 30, but I don’t really feel it. I’ve been in the culture world all of my young life, and a show like Youngers I’ve wanted to do since the beginning of my career. I’ve always envisaged a show like this, and many years later, I’ve finally managed to do it. I’ve still got the same energy and passion and excitement to do it as I did when I first dipped my toes into TV. I’m still engaged in that culture, many of my friends are heavily involved. It’s a genuine part of life, it’s not just something that’s in the corner that isn’t relevant to people. This culture is all around our country, particularly in the cities. You have to close your eyes to ignore the urban movement and music, and film and fashion and sport. It’s all around.

Yemi and Jay are very different characters in a lot of ways – one studious and high-achieving, the other more of a tearaway. Which one were you more like at that age?

That’s hard. I’d say all of the characters have got a little bit of me in them. That’s how I write. I always put a little bit of myself in all of the characters. I think that helps me keep my attachment to them, so I’m not removed from the story. It also helps with the tone. I’m an optimistic person, I could write darker, sadder stuff, but this way I can balance it out with the humour and lightness that sees people through hard times. So they’ve all got a bit of me in them, to be honest.

As you say, the show is optimistic. A lot of shows set in this sort of environment go down the Top Boy route, depicting a world of drugs and gangs. Why have you gone down such a different path?

With shows like Top Boy, I don’t think they’re just making stuff up – that life does exist, not just in the estates of London but all over the country, in other cities, other cultures, other races. But for me, I’m just trying to balance things out. I could have set it somewhere else, stayed away from it being set in southeast London, stayed away from it being set on a council estate and so on, but I thought “No. There’s still optimism and hope there.” Just because you’re on a council estate doesn’t mean you’re involved with crime, or your next door neighbour is involved with crime. That’s not to say that there isn’t crime around the corner. But the story we’re focussing on is just about young people trying to find their way in the world. But of course the stories dealing with the dark stuff are still relevant, they do happen, and to be honest, there’s even worse than that. But for my output, I’m trying to show another side of the story that doesn’t get told as much.

Diversity in TV is in the news quite a bit just now, thanks to Lenny Henry’s campaign. Do you think enough is being done to reflect the nation’s diversity in front of and behind the camera?

I really commend Lenny for what he did. Youngers didn’t get made because it was ticking a diversity box, we were treated like every other drama, we had to work hard, blood sweat and tears, to make this. But as a viewer, of course there is so much more that can be done. Behind the camera, it is abysmal in terms of diversity. Before the most recent series of Youngers (which featured 5 young people from Southwark on the production as apprentices) I almost never saw any diversity behind the cameras, it was just me on my own. I found myself at every turn having to explain to people a culture and a world that they just had no clue about. It can be lonely. There’s no-one else to bounce off, so I end up feeling like I’m carrying a lot.  So I think more needs to be done, but I still believe that it needs to be done on merit, as opposed to ticking boxes. This is a sensitive issue. It’s a sensitive issue for me, because I do sometimes feel on my own. And it’s a sensitive issue for those who are discussing it right now, because there’s a lot of people who have tried and failed, and had a lot of setbacks in the industry. And there are plenty of examples of people who have experienced casual racism or direct racism. But right now all I can do is work as hard as I can, keep telling the stories I have to tell, and hopefully open doors for other people to do the same.

The show is shot through with comedy. When you’re writing it, do you feel like you’re writing a comedy or a drama? Or doesn’t it really matter?

It sounds really vague, I guess, but I just kind of write. What I am aware iof, when I’m writing, is that people don’t really want to come in after a hard day’s work and watch a bunch of guys who are really depressed ‘cos they can’t make it in the music industry. So I want to live it up a bit, bring a bit more humour and lightness to it. Because what I remember when I was young, and what still happens when I hang around with young people, is that there is still really optimistic banter that happens between them. That’s what I think helps the show stand out. Regardless of your age and your background, when you watch the show you can still enjoy the banter that happens. It’s a bit like Del Boy and Rodney – you don’t have to live in Peckham and be a market trader selling hookey gear to get that relationship. It’s that humour and that banter that hopefully engages people and gets them to come back.

The show is full of rather beautiful, iconic shots of London. Was that intentional? Are you a proud Londoner?

Yes, definitely. And you might also notice that there are moments when they’re standing on, let’s say, Yemi’s walkway, and there might be shots of him looking out to the horizon where you might see central London. That’s always intentional, and for me that represents the hopes and dreams that these young guys have. They’re looking to get there – to Zone 1, the city with the money and the big players. That’s similar to how I felt – I used to go home to E4 through areas where I could see further into London, and I’d think “I want to work there.” The young guys just want to get into the city from life on the outskirts. The only question is, how much do they have to compromise to get there? Or do they keep it real and stay where they are, and just hope that they can get picked up from there?

Anything else you can tell us about what’s in store for the guys during this series?

They’re going to be tested as a group and individually. They all grow up in their own different ways this year, and I think that’ll be really enjoyable to see. You get to see the more mature side of Youngers as they start to feel their way into adulthood.