{"id":27625,"date":"2022-12-22T10:00:36","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T09:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1754197"},"modified":"2022-12-22T12:33:44","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T11:33:44","slug":"riches-on-itvx-is-unlike-anything-else-on-british-television","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/riches-on-itvx-is-unlike-anything-else-on-british-television\/","title":{"rendered":"Riches on ITVX is unlike anything else on British television"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Morgan Cormack\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 22 December 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Cultural appropriation, bias, racism and the widely accepted meaning of \u201chomegrown\u201d British talent are just some of the themes covered in Hugh Quarshie\u2019s powerful opening dialogue in the premiere of new ITVX<\/a> drama Riches.<\/p>\n

In the first scene of the anticipated drama, Stephen Richards (Quarshie) is giving an interview to a journalist who fails to see the pitfalls in his questioning about whether \u201cdiscriminatory practices\u201d had an impact on the early success of Richards\u2019s company, Flair & Glory.<\/p>\n

The family-run company is a booming success, but when the conversation turns to Richards\u2019s two other children, he quickly moves the interview on. And so, the dramatic foundations for Riches are laid.<\/p>

The new drama comes from Abby Ajayi, one of the writers behind Shonda Rhimes\u2019s How to Get Away with Murder, and breathes new life into the TV drama schedule.<\/p>\n

Like the saga-fuelled American series we all know and love \u2013 think Dynasty, Scandal, Grey\u2019s Anatomy \u2013 Riches benefits from well-paced revelations, untrustworthy characters and family disputes to propel it forward. The result? The kind of drama viewers will easily consume and still want more of; that\u2019s how well written and salacious the series is.<\/p>\n

More importantly, though, it\u2019s quite unlike anything on British television at the moment.<\/p>\n

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Hugh Quarshie as Stephen Richards in Riches.<\/span><\/figcaption> ITV<\/i><\/span><\/div>\n

For far too long, terrestrial channels have struggled to keep up with the appetite for authentic, diverse series that don\u2019t just tell a story about racism and trauma, but also deliver all of the kinds of meaty plot lines we expect of some of our most beloved dramas.<\/p>\n

Riches fills a gaping hole in the TV series market right now \u2013 and that\u2019s majorly because of how it doesn\u2019t feel as though it\u2019s trying too hard to do so.<\/p>\n

The drama centres on the Richards family and their company, Flair & Glory. After Richards\u2019s unexpected death in the first episode, the question of who will inherit the company seems to be an easy one. But when his American children Nina (Deborah Ayorinde) and Simon (Emmanuel Imani) fly over to London from New York, they soon find out that they were included in the will \u2013 in a surprisingly big way.<\/p>\n

The series is a depiction of wealth and power struggles, but at the heart of it is also an authentic depiction of Black London.<\/p>\n