Lenny Henry Drama On BBC

Lenny Henry’s new BBC drama mirrors his real life as he discovered who his biological father was.

16:04 13 August 2015

Lenny Henry stars in a new BBC drama, Danny And The Human Zoo, a “fantasy memoir” of his life as a talented teenager in 1970s Dudley. The drama mirrors his childhood as he finally discovered the true identity of his biological father.

 

Lenny was born to Winifred Henry and was raised by her husband Winston. He later discovered that he wasn’t his birth father.

 

Talking to the reporters at a screening for the drama, he said: "[The storyline] is based on the truth actually but I didn’t want to write it in a way that was pedantic or whatever.

 

"I talk about my dad and my mum a lot in every interview I’ve ever done, and the person I talk about is the person who raised me."

 

He added: Because a lot of people in my family are alive, if I'd written it exactly the way my life had been, I would have annoyed a lot of people.

 

"It's a bit like a parallel universe Lenny. My sister still won't read it because she thinks it's too rude."

"What's great about writing a parallel universe is that you can do things, and comment on things that people didn't do in real life," he said.

 

"I had a five minute conversation with my dad in this parallel world - that never happened! Samson is very similar to my dad - often he would come home from work and he would barely speak - he'd say, 'I want to watch the cricket' and things like that, but it wouldn't be a conversation.

 

"All of that stuff I've made up there is about how great would it would have been if my dad did give me advice, had said things. This is really like me talking to me when I was 16."