Onyx Collective Announces Pickup of Drama Series “Queenie"

Onyx Collective and the U.K.’s Channel 4 have announced the straight-to-series pickup of the drama Queenie.

L-R: Dionne Brown, Samuel Adewunmi, Bellah

What’s Happening:

Queenie will be available on Channel 4 in the U.K. and the Republic of Ireland and will stream exclusively on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America, and Disney+ in all other territories.
The eight-episode series stars Dionne Brown as Queenie, Samuel Adewunmi as Frank, and Bellah as Kyazike.
Queenie Jenkins is a 25-year-old Jamaican British woman living in south London, straddling two cultures and slotting neatly into neither. After a messy breakup with her long-term boyfriend, Queenie seeks comfort in all the wrong places and begins to realize she has to face the past head-on before she can rebuild.
The series is based on the best-selling novel by Candice Carty-Williams.
Created by Candice Carty-Williams, Queenie is executive produced by Carty-Williams, who will also serve as showrunner.
Non-writing executive producers are Further South’s Steve November and Sarah Conroy, with Lisa Walters as co-executive producer and series producer.

Cast:

Dionne Brown as Queenie: The 25-year-old, curvy, pretty south Londoner speaks her mind, especially when she shouldn’t. Queenie is from a Jamaican family, striving to achieve in a predominantly white workplace. She is constantly playing catch up with her emotions and the situations she finds herself in due to a hard-wired habit of self-sabotaging, which she is mostly unaware of. As soon as she stops to reflect, everything she’s been running from hits her, and it is the worst emotional pileup imaginable. Our protagonist is thus hellbent on outrunning her demons and disassociating — a strategy destined to implode.
Samuel Adewunmi as Frank: Twenty-eight-year-old Frank is Kyazike’s older cousin, a man with his own van and grand plans in life. He is from Ends, is invested in his community and has known Queenie since her high school days. He has seen her on occasion with Kyazike over the years, although not since she hooked up with Tom. Frank is emotionally intelligent, well-read, and articulate — an intellectual match for Queenie. He thinks and speaks from the heart and challenges Queenie. He’s her Truth Teller, straightforward and unapologetic but with a good heart.
Bellah as Kyazike: Queenie’s longest-serving best friend from school, Kyazike is of Ugandan heritage, was raised in south London and is also 25 years old. She works in a bank where she can cross-reference eligible men with their bank balances. She always has the longest hair, the best nails, the highest designer heels, and the funniest stories. Kyazike is firmly on her quest for Mr. Right, who must have financial clout. While Queenie doesn’t find her friend’s quest aspirational, she definitely finds it inspirational.