For Hammed Animashaun, this year’s birthday is one for the books. The actor turned 32 on Saturday 6 May, and celebrated the launch of his new buddy cop series, Black Ops, the night before. “Honestly, it’s like a dream come true,” he says with a wide grin. The zany comedy, which is the brainchild of Bafta-winning Famalam stars Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen, sees Animashaun and Ikumelo play two police community support officers who find themselves way out of their depth when they’re sent off to infiltrate a drug-shifting gang.
Combining slapstick comedy with thriller suspense, Black Ops is just the sort of project that Animashaun has always wanted to be part of. Plus, collaborating with people he’d long admired was the cherry on top of the cake. “I moved things in my schedule,” he says, wiping clean his imaginary calendar with his hand. “I made sure that I was able to have this chance to work with them [Ikumelo and Ndifornyen]; it’s really something I can tick off the bucket list.” So enthralled was he, Animashaun didn’t think he actually had the part for months, despite being present in the show’s earliest development stages. “I definitely didn’t think this role was mine,” he says, laughing. “I was like, ‘I’m just a placeholder for someone with a bigger name, someone more established.’”
