Following on from that we have The Confessions of Frannie Langton, an ITVX drama<\/a> based on Sara Collins\u2019s award-winning novel of the same name. The series stars <\/span>Karla-Simone Spence (Blue Story, Gold Digger) as the titular character, who has just arrived in Georgian London from a plantation in Jamaica.<\/p>\n But in spite of her lowly status and the horrors she\u2019s witnessed, including brutal experiments on her enslaved peers, the fire in her belly still burns bright, a trait which Spence admires greatly: <\/span>\u201cShe\u2019s very witty and it\u2019s her bravery in that time period [that drew me in]. She says things that would be considered shocking, but she also doesn\u2019t go too far. She knows how to tread the line.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd <\/span>Frannie\u2019s just so human. She makes choices that could annoy people, like anyone does. No one\u2019s perfect. T<\/span>o be able to play someone who has so much depth over four episodes, it\u2019s an actor\u2019s dream.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Frannie is stationed in the Mayfair mansion of George Benham, a celebrated scientist whose respectable exterior belies the barbarism simmering within. Like many of his peers, he\u2019s a firm believer in the moral validity of those ghoulish experiments, which were used to bolster the white supremacist cause.<\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s prepared for the worst when it comes to him,\u201d says Spence. \u201cShe\u2019s very closed off and very particular about what she says and does because she\u2019s on edge.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n But while Frannie\u2019s painful backstory and her current predicament are a key part of this narrative \u2013 she\u2019s accused of double homicide after Benham and his wife Madame <\/span>Marguerite are found dead \u2013\u00a0<\/span>there is beauty and tenderness to be found.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cNo doubt you\u2019ll be thinking that this is just another one of those slave stories, all sugared over with misery and despair,\u201d says Frannie, directly acknowledging audience preconceptions.<\/p>\n In the midst of her darkness is a single source of light: Madame. The pair connect instantly, not only attracted to one another physically but also intellectually, with<\/span> Frannie and her mistress falling quickly and passionately in love, risks be damned.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cShe\u2019s never experienced love before,\u201d says Spence. \u201cAnd w<\/span>hen she\u2019s around Madame, she\u2019s able to be closer to her true self. <\/span>They relate to one another so much. <\/span>They\u2019re like birds trapped in a cage.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Collins\u2019s decision to deviate from the familiar \u2018slave story\u2019 beats that we\u2019ve long been fed was a huge draw for Spence: \u201cWe don\u2019t really want to see Black trauma on screen. We\u2019re multifaceted. We\u2019re not a monolith. We love and we cry, and we want to see new stories that aren\u2019t entrenched in sadness and pain.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhile Frannie is set in this time period and she was born into slavery, while she can\u2019t escape from that, it\u2019s a story about her<\/em>. It is showing all<\/em> the different parts of her life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Spence was raised in\u00a0south-east London but both of her parents were born in Jamaica, which helped her<\/span>\u00a0establish an innate familiarity with her character.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my whole life,\u201d she says of her heritage. \u201cAnd reading her story, it just felt really close to me, really close to my heart.\u201d<\/span><\/p> She went on to highlight the rarity of this type of role: \u201cThere just aren\u2019t many lead parts in period dramas for Black people. I\u2019ve waited so<\/em> long to play this kind of character. They don\u2019t come by so often for women like me. <\/span>A three-dimensional Black Jamaican woman in Georgian London is something we haven\u2019t seen before.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n What\u2019s the key to ensuring that this isn\u2019t just a trend but an enduring legacy?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about having more writers that are envisioning us as people in a show,\u201d she adds. \u201cHaving more than one, not just the \u2018token one\u2019. With open casting, they\u2019ll see everyone for a role but I feel like characters are originally written with someone in mind. When it\u2019s a character that\u2019s written with you<\/em> in mind, like Frannie, it\u2019s just so much easier.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen she came around, I was just like, \u2018Wow, I need that.’\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The Confessions of Frannie Langton is airing now on ITVX.<\/strong> Looking for something else to watch?<\/strong> Check out our\u00a0TV guide<\/a>\u00a0or visit our\u00a0<\/strong>Drama<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0hub for all the latest news.<\/strong><\/p>\n The latest issue of Radio Times magazine is on sale now \u2013\u00a0subscribe now<\/a>. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to the Radio Times View From My Sofa podcast<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n By Abby Robinson Published: Thursday, 08 December 2022 at 12:00 am The period drama was once a synonym for the stories of white people, a gross failing which further crystallised the myth that Black, Asian and minority ethnic voices simply didn\u2019t exist in days of yore, and particularly in places such as London. But there\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":26803,"template":"","categories":[1,5],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/karla-simone-spence-we-dont-want-to-see-black-trauma-on-screen.jpg",620,413,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/karla-simone-spence-we-dont-want-to-see-black-trauma-on-screen-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/karla-simone-spence-we-dont-want-to-see-black-trauma-on-screen-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/karla-simone-spence-we-dont-want-to-see-black-trauma-on-screen.jpg",620,413,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/karla-simone-spence-we-dont-want-to-see-black-trauma-on-screen.jpg",620,413,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/karla-simone-spence-we-dont-want-to-see-black-trauma-on-screen.jpg",620,413,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/56\/2022\/12\/karla-simone-spence-we-dont-want-to-see-black-trauma-on-screen.jpg",620,413,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Abby Robinson Published: Thursday, 08 December 2022 at 12:00 am The period drama was once a synonym for the stories of white people, a gross failing which further crystallised the myth that Black, Asian and minority ethnic voices simply didn\u2019t exist in days of yore, and particularly in places such as London. But there\u2019s…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/26802"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26802"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26802"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"""\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2022\/12\/confessions-of-frannie-langton-78de78f.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C413"\" "\\"\"\"\\"\/")
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