Casting is underway for the lead role in Danny and the Human Zoo.
Red Production Company and the BBC are looking to cast the lead role in Danny and the Human Zoo, a new semi-autobiographical drama written by Lenny Henry.
DANNY FEARON - LEAD ROLE
Black male teenager of Jamaican parentage, late teens, with an authentic West Midlands accent.
An excellent mimic with the ability and willingness to learn impersonations of 70s cultural icons such as Tommy Cooper, Mohammed Ali, Elvis Presley, Harold Wilson, John Lennon, Dave Allen etc.
A comedian who is constantly entertaining his school mates, with a boyish charm and an innocence to the ways of the world.
If you're interested, please email a photo of yourself along with a CV/covering letter to the casting director, Lisa Makin, at dannycasting@outlook.com no later than Tuesday 24th June 2014.
Danny And The Human Zoo is a 1x90-minute fictionalised account of Lenny Henry's life as a working-class teenager in 1970s Dudley.
Made by RED Production Company for BBC One, the story centres round Danny Fearon, a talented impressionist, and his working-class Jamaican family, as he rises to fame as a stand-up comedian.
Danny’s world is a series of complex minefields which he has to negotiate. His home life - which his ebullient mother rules with an iron fist in an iron glove; his love life - where the white Irish girl he's in love with won't give him the time of day until he wins his first competition - and finally the ups and downs of his emerging career.
When Danny wins a talent competition at the local club he soon finds himself working the comedy circuit. Audiences can’t get enough and applaud Danny as he effortlessly morphs into Mohammed Ali, Tommy Cooper and Frank Spencer; eventually hitting the big time on TV, an unheard-of achievement for a young black boy. But an unscrupulous agent takes advantage of Danny and forces him to star in a show, which even by Seventies' standards, was a byword for racism - The Black And White Minstrel Show. Danny hits rock bottom. Having made his name by becoming other people, Danny has to save himself by finding out who he really is.
Lenny Henry says: "I'm so excited about bringing my fictional teen memoir to the nation! I've crammed the first two years of a very long career into 90 minutes - it's gonna rock. I think , although it's not exactly what happened, that we'll get a strong sense of what it might have been like for a young black kid from Dudley to be suddenly hurled into the maelstrom of this business we call show... Can't wait!"
Danny And The Human Zoo is a drama about a kid trying to make it big. It's a high-energy, nostalgic period piece about the decade we love to hate, and its music, fashion and television.