Lenny Henry wants you to know that his ITV drama Three Little Birds is definitely not his family biopic. The actor, writer and comedian’s new show centres on a trio of hopeful young women from Clarendon, Jamaica, who, in 1957, make the three-week cross-Atlantic sail to Britain, itching for a new life. Yes, Henry’s mother was part of the Windrush generation that made the same arduous journey in the late Fifties. And yes, she made a new home for herself in Dudley, where the series is set. And yes, she also had to contend with brutal circumstances from the moment of her arrival, thanks to the Mother Country’s failure to welcome her with the open arms she’d expected.
But, Henry protests, this is not his mother’s story. “There are some things that are true, but hopefully I’ve... because my family is very litigious, you see,” he jokes, “I can’t say what they are. I fictionalised a lot of my mum’s and aunties’ and uncles’ stories. But the basic premise, two Jamaican women coming to Britain with a ‘mail-order bride’ friend, that is a kind of truth. The rest is fiction.”
