Dreaming Whilst Black: a satirical comedy so lifelike it practically wrote itself

The hit web comedy has become a series on BBC Three. It’s not a documentary, but it might as well be, its creator and his co-star tell Nicole Vassell

Dani Moseley and Adjani Salmon of Dreaming Whilst Black: 'Sometimes, we’re really in the twilight zone’ (BBC/Big Deal Films/Anup Bhatt)

We meet Dreaming Whilst Black’s hero Kwabena in an unenviable position. He’s been invited to a meeting with bigwigs in the film industry who are interested in his short film idea. Finally, he thinks, a break! This could be that thing to finally put him on the road to making his filmmaking dreams a reality… but, sadly, the meeting clashes with his soul-sucking day job. Though it keeps a roof above his head, working in recruitment feels closer to a nightmare. But what good are dreams if you can’t afford to live?

This six-part comedy explores the struggles of being a Black creative trying to “make it”, and the practicalities of having a nine-to-five job are just one part of the battle. There are offensive microaggressions. Housing worries. Dating pitfalls. And a potent examination of how privilege and connections mean that others have a headstart, whether they have talent or not.

Dreaming Whilst Black is also delightfully original and laugh-out-loud funny. The series is the brainchild of the 34-year-old Jamaican-British writer and director Adjani Salmon, who plays Kwabena. He nurtured the idea from its start as a web show, to its Bafta-winning pilot, to its now serial run on BBC Three. It’s not a documentary, but according to Salmon, it might as well be. “The show kept writing itself,” he explains. “Sometimes I’m in certain conversations and I’m thinking, ‘Do you know I write a show about the industry? Why would you do this in front of me, of all people?’ I feel like it very much mirrors our experience. It’s the same s***! Sometimes, we’re really in the twilight zone.”

Salmon is speaking to me with castmate Dani Moseley over Zoom, weeks before Dreaming Whilst Black finally makes its full series debut. Their excitement is palpable: this has been a long time coming. After graduating from his masters programme at west London’s MetFilm School in 2015, Salmon expected to dive headfirst into a filmmaking career. He directed the short, His Father’s Son, which was praised by audiences when it played at festivals. And after that… not much.

“No agent, nothing,” he recalls. “So then I was like, damn, I need to make another short film.” But as he began figuring out how to do it, the trailer for the first season of Insecure dropped online in 2016. An adaptation of Issa Rae’s popular web series Awkward Black Girl, Insecure was a proper, glossy HBO show that was about to be seen by millions.

“I was like, ‘Oh! That was a web series!’” Along with Kayode Ewumi’s meme-making YouTube show HoodDocumentary, and the much-loved web series Ackee & Saltfish by Cecile Emeke, Salmon realised that the way to creating projects that would reach people wasn’t to wait on the industry to give him a chance – it was to go ahead and produce his own work. “I was like, ‘Online is the ting!’” Salmon says with a hearty laugh. “Like, yo – I’m trying to do this festival ting. Why am I knocking at the gate? These guys are online building a whole empire.”

The web series Dreaming Whilst Black launched in 2018. In 2021, a TV series pilot aired on BBC Three. The following year came the Bafta Craft Award for “emerging talent: fiction”, along with the full series backing of A24, the production company behind Euphoria, The Idol and Beef. In one scene, a voice on a podcast says “filmmaking is a long game and you have to be resilient” – a message Salmon and Moseley know deeply. As Amy, Moseley is a key part of the Dreaming Whilst Black tale, and has been since the web series. As well as helping to move Kwabena’s burgeoning career forward with her low-level job at a film agency, Amy has her own dreams too – none of which involve doing the hourly tea and coffee run, or swerving the hand of an over-friendly colleague who tries to touch her hair.

Having studied producing at university, Moseley also expected the road to getting a fulfilling job in film to be easier than it was. “Nobody told me I’d have to be a runner, a receptionist, make loads of teas for years before getting to producer level,” she says. “The rug was pulled from me, I was like, ‘It’s all lies!’” Moseley couldn’t afford to work low-paid jobs in the industry until it was time to move up, so she took a job in finance despite caring little for it. Like Amy, she experienced frustration working in a corporate environment that not only flattened her creativity but tried to place her identity into ill-fitting boxes.

“Working in finance, I learnt that as a Black woman, I’m not [seen as] assertive. I’m either passive, or aggressive. Once, someone was telling a story about something I’d done, and they added in: ‘Dani was like…’” She makes a stereotypical motion of swishing her head from side-to-side and wagging her finger. “I didn’t do that!” Still, her ex-colleague insisted she had, and wondered how he could’ve conjured that image if not. “Maybe from the TV? Every American show you’ve ever watched?”

Dani Moseley and Adjani Salmon of Dreaming Whilst Black: ‘For most Black people in this country, especially in London, Blackness actually is your centre’ (BBC/Big Deal Films/Anup Bhatt)

Many Black people in predominantly white spaces are familiar with the uncomfortable feeling of being the odd one out, or a “type” that others project their ideas onto. To combat this, Dreaming Whilst Black has consciously made Blackness its default. Salmon printed a handy reminder at the front of every script. “‘Unless otherwise stated, every character is Black.’ Just so that everybody else knows that when we write ‘Amy, 28’, she’s Black,” he says firmly. “If she’s white, we’re gonna tell you that she’s white.”

For Salmon, who was born in the UK and moved to Jamaica aged five before coming back for university, that was already a given. “When I was in Jamaica, I used to technically make ‘Black films’ – but in Jamaica, it’s just a film,” Salmon says. “There’s an idea that in this country, we’re ‘other’. But actually, that depends on the lens. For most Black people in this country, especially in London, Blackness actually is your centre.” It was important for Salmon that Dreaming Whilst Black’s characters didn’t consider themselves a minority – Kwabena, Amy and their friends are the norm.

There’s an idea that in this country, we’re ‘other’. But actually, that depends on the lens

Being on a set with this so deeply in mind was a cherished experience for Moseley. With makeup artists and hairstylists that understood the products and techniques she required, the actor automatically felt at ease. “It was the first time on set where I didn’t have to worry about my hair, or my makeup,” Moseley explains. “I got to sit in the chair and have a chat with the other actors, and the hair and makeup people, and not have to be watching what they’re doing.” For once, she was able to think about the job at hand, rather than monitoring how she was going to look on camera – an extra form of labour that Black performers often face. “I know I’m a form of representation every time I go on to the screen, so I want to feel comfortable,” Moseley continues. “I want to be thinking about my emotional journey, not the fact that my hair is starting to get frizzy because someone put the wrong gel in it.”

Now that Dreaming Whilst Black is finally about to get the mainstream attention it deserves, Salmon and Moseley can look at the journey and share some wisdom for other dreamers in creative fields. And for both, it all comes back to resilience. “We’re here because of staying power,” Salmon notes. “It can’t all be fast; sometimes you have to go slow. Sometimes you wake up and write one page. But it’s a step forward.”

And a good dose of individuality doesn’t hurt, either. “Equally, I think it’s important to find your own voice, and what you want to say,” he continues. “Because no one can be better than you. Your point and perspective are what makes you special.”

‘Dreaming Whilst Black’ begins on BBC Three at 10pm on Monday 24 July, with all six episodes available on iPlayer on the same day