‘Everyone deserves art'

Kwame Kwei-Armah on conquering theatreland since leaving Casualty…

- Tess Lamacraft

IMAGINE… MY NAME IS KWAME

LAST ONE THU / BBC1 / 10.45PM (NI, 11.15PM) / EP 3 of 3 / FACTUAL

After years spent dreaming of becoming a pop star, it was playing Casualty’s popular paramedic Finlay Newton that made Kwame Kwei-Armah a familiar face on our screens.

London-born Kwame starred in the BBC1 medical drama from 1999 to 2004, and he’s since carved out a successful career on both sides of the Atlantic as an actor, award-winning playwright and director. In 2018, he made history as the first person of African-Caribbean descent to run a major UK theatre, London’s Young Vic.

This week, his extraordinary life and career is in the spotlight as he chats to presenter Alan Yentob for the final instalment in the current run of BBC1’s imagine… series, My Name is Kwame.

Here, in an exclusive interview, dad-of-four Kwame, 53, tells TV Times about the experiences that have shaped him…

How did it feel having this special programme dedicated to you and your work?

I was quite nervous because I seldom watch anything I’ve ever done or see myself on TV! Watching clips of myself on Casualty for the first time was actually very funny. I thought, ‘Oh, that was actually all right.’

What was it like growing up in Southall, west London?