Posted in: BBC, CW, HBO, Netflix, TV | Tagged: Colin Salmon, krypton, london spring comic con, showmasters

Colin Salmon – How Krypton Led To Black And Northen Irish

I'm at the London Spring Comic Con – a small affair comparatively but a perfectly formed one. It is sold out today but there are still tickets available for tomorrow. They have four Doctors (Colin, Sylvester, Richard and Jodie) and I just bumped into Colin Salmon in the green room after seeing his panel.

At his panel, he talked through his career but was also looking to the future. Having done DC Comics on the TV (such as Arrow and Krypton), he said he was open to Marvel movies and the like, but he doesn't like to chase things. He says that people are aware he is there, and if he fits the pallette of their creative decisions, he would always be up for such a project. He feels like he's going into the aged roles, as he doesn't need to dye a beard to play a wizard in New Zealand anymore. He loved being in Mortal Engines, and would be happy to do more of that ilk.

Being asked about his diagnosis of ADHD, he talked about how that had led him to experiences such as the Kit Kat Club in Berlin. But he feels naive about so much, he looked up 'naivety' in the dictionary and found it described as one who is unable to identify a predator. "Thankfully I'm six foot four and 200 pounds".

He talked about his own lockdown, reading books, building a sound studio, working on an autobiography and producing a new documentary, Black And Northern Irish, for Netflix and the BBC. Colin Salmon grew up as the only black kid in his English village, and wants to challenge the prevailing voice about black history in Britain as being an urban one. That there is a often a focus on metropolitan cities, but his experience and that of many others was a rural one. A follow-up to Black And Scottish, the new documentary emerged from when he was filming Krypton in Belfast and established the Melrose Group for members of the growing black and mixed-race community in the city to meet and swap stories.

Black and Northern Irish will feature in-depth and heart-warming interviews, accompanied with observation style material to build a true-to-life picture of the day-to-day lives of an ordinary black and Northern Irish person. Encapsulating three generations of Black & Northern Irish people we will see how life has changed, or not, over the years, tackling core themes within the community such as issues surrounding accent, religion and of course racism. With the central character of a young, Black & Northern Irish girl we will frame the discussion in a forward-thinking, progressive style. This will ensure content always has the end goal of stimulating a larger discussion in the Northern Ireland community, similar to that of black and Scottish which has now led to the programme being part of the Scottish Government's new curriculum to increasing diverse studies in primary and secondary school and recognised by Netflix and BBC Network. To the future generations of black and Northern Irish kids, we look to show not just that there are people that look like them in their country, but that they are strong, resilient and most of all proud to call Northern Ireland their home.

Colin Salmon says that he can handle bigotry from the ignorant who have known nothing else but not from those who have a degree and have travelled. "Skinheads shout at me, 'I was born here, my dad was born here and my grandad was born here!', I go 'Don't you think it's time you moved? There's a whole world out there!".He also let fans of his BBC sitcom Some Girls that he was able to pick his own body double for the naked scenes…

We also chatted about our love of radio drama, especially Dirk Maggs and Neil Gaiman, and naturally I passed on a recommendation for John Finnemore's Souvenir Programme Series 9. Because it's what I do…

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