Back in 2018, when the first, web series of Adjani Salmon’s sitcom was released, its very existence was a boon to a British film/TV industry notably lacking diversity at all levels, and still in thrall to all-white period dramas. Here was a show about working-class Black Britons that both eschewed the usual drug-dealing stereotypes and was created by a real-life Black person. Salmon co-wrote and starred as Kwabena Robinson, an aspiring film-maker struggling to get a career foothold, while also making his rent and cultivating a romance with doe-eyed love interest, Vanessa (Babirye Bukilwa).
The fact that Dreaming Whilst Black was actually good, while not strictly necessary, definitely helped. The first full series won critical plaudits for its confident combination of creative industries satire, sensitive dramedy and surrealist touches. Now, the show is back for a second series, in which some of those easy, TV critic assumptions – about what progress looks like; about the intrinsic value of “diversity” and “representation” – are themselves questioned. It’s not a rude awaking from Kwabena’s dream exactly, but the arpeggio alarm on his iPhone 11 is definitely starting to sound.
