Grime Kids

Available on BBC iPlayer

You’d be forgiven for entering Theresa Ikoko’s adaptation of DJ Target’s celebrated memoir Grime Kids with a preconceived idea of the sort of show it would be. Given the international success of Top Boy, it would be understandable if Ikoko leaned into the grittier elements of the upbringings of Target and other grime pioneers such as Dizzee Rascal, Skepta, and Wiley (to name but a few). While those elements are certainly not ignored, this is a far more joyous series than one might expect it to be.

That is due in no small part to Grime Kids’ excellent ensemble cast, which is led by relative newcomers Yus Jamal Crookes, Tienne Simon, Juwon Adedokun, Gabriel Robinson, and Shanu Hazzan. Despite the fact they predate the era which the show documents, the actors thoroughly imbue the spirit of the time, from their garms through to their effervescent attitude towards life. With each character benefitting from their own absorbing back story, which coalesces nicely with the group’s shared ambition of starting their own grime collective, Grime Kids is an infectious experience which grows in stature over the course of its five episode arc.