"The racist riots show we have a long way to go'

A play produced by Idris Elba and Maya Jama has just opened to critical acclaim in the West End. Its lead Tosin Cole,the former grime MC and star of Netflix's Supacell, talks to Nick Curtis about race and politics in the capital

I'D been told before we met, that Tosin Cole would probably only talk about his starring role in Netflix's Supacell and the transfer of love story Shifters from the tiny Bush Theatre to the West End nothing personal or political. But a wave of racist violence has swept the country and it feels foolish not to ask the 32-year-old British-Nigerian actor about it.

"I want to answer this, but I want to answer it right," he says eventually. "How can we put faith in people [in authority] who let these things happen? We need to see real consequences for wrongdoing that is actually quite disgusting. When ugly things like that happen it makes me think we have a long way to go as human beings."

Politicians talk all the time about diversity and inclusion, he adds, but "actions speak louder than words". He goes silent again, wary of offering up any statement that could be misconstrued or twisted.

"I feel we live in an unforgiving era, of cancellation, so I'm careful. But I'm also aware one must be a good human being, be a good person, be a professional and also try and be a good example." This caution comes from being in the public eye for half his life.

Cole was born in Florida and raised in New York, then moved to south-east London aged eight after his parents split up (something else he doesn't like to talk about), living sometimes with his father and sometimes with an uncle and aunt.

A grime MC in his teens, he got into acting through the youth theatre group Intermission and quit school before his A-levels for parts in Hollyoaks and the EastEnders spin-off E20.