“It was seeing somebody who was a model on Instagram, but secretly a sex worker and was massively ashamed about that,” Nicôle Lecky said of the inspiration behind her one-woman show Superhoe, which has been adapted as a series called Mood. The show debuts stateside on Sunday, November 6th at 7/6c on BBC America, but AMC+ subscribers can stay a week ahead of broadcast with 2 episodes at launch and a new episode every Sunday. During a recent TCA press conference to promote the U.S. premiere of Mood, actor, writer, singer-songwriter, and executive producer Nicôle Lecky revealed the origins of the idea and how she got her big break in show business. “ I just want people to feel less judgement, have a bit of grace for people to be able to make mistakes and not feel like that’s it for you. It’s not that definitive thing. Life can change at any moment.”
(BBC America/AMC+)
Nicôle Lecky stars as aspiring recording artist Sasha Clayton, whose musical ambitions get derailed when she enters the dark world of being a social media influencer. “Sasha was a character that bounced off the page as soon as I read it,” explained executive producer Margery Bone, who knew instantly she had found something special in Nicôle Lecky. “It’s our responsibility as an industry to reach out to make sure there's access points. That's something we've all gotta do. And I think that's also really important from our side of things to make sure we go to those theater shows and see all of the support networks for new talent. We met Nicôle when she was doing a rehearsed reading even before the Royal Court.”
“I was writing scripts and sending them to people unsolicited and performing open mics or doing open-access forums as an actor,” Nicôle Lecky said of her struggles to break into the industry. “I kind of got lucky in that I found some amazing inspirational mentors that really helped me at the beginning of my career and steered me into a path. And I ended up going to drama school in the U.K. and that was really the first time I think that I was seen and noticed and able to get an agent. It's really hard to get work without an agent. And it's something that Sasha in Mood is obviously… She's very headless in she doesn't know how to get her foot in the door, which is exactly why she falls into social media, online sex work.”
Not only has Superhoe been adapted as a six-part series, but Nicôle Lecky now has to share the characters she created with other actors. “It’s hard to give them over, but I feel like we've just got the best cast,” gushed Nicôle Lecky. “Paul Kaye is amazing as the stepdad… He’s exactly how I feel like I played Kevin on stage and he just got it immediately.” Kevin was one of Nicôle’s favorite characters to play on stage, as was Sasha’s antithesis Carly. “She’s a lot of fun bouncing around. I was really excited to meet those actresses, and obviously, Lara Peake does an amazing job.” The casting net was committed to authenticity, finding an unknown actor named Mohamed Moses Dalmar to play Saleem, another expanded role from the play.
“When I wrote the play, I had no idea it would become this,” Nicôle Lecky added, with Mood having already wowed audiences in the U.K. last spring. “I definitely struggled for many years. I just sort of didn't know what else to do.” The road to creating, starring in, producing, and writing songs for her own series wasn’t an easy one, but Nicôle Lecky is not going to rest now that she’s achieved her dream. “There was nothing else I wanted to do. I really wanted to be creating music, I wanted to be telling stories… It was like this has to work. And I just love it so much, I'm going to keep going. And I think I really, really did believe that if I kept going, somebody would notice.”
America is ready to take notice with the premiere of Mood on Sunday, November 6th, The first episode will air at 7/6c on BBC America and AMC+ subscribers can stream the first two episodes that same day.