Ever since the first season premiered back in 2023, fans of Dreaming Whilst Black have been patiently waiting for the second outing – and at long last, it's now here.

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The new season is as stellar as ever, crafting the show's infectious humour to a whole new level that will leave viewers grinning within the first 10 minutes of the premiere episode. It's a comeback that will not only come as a sigh of relief to fans but also, more understandably, to its creator and star Adjani Salmon.

When we chat about the new season of Dreaming Whilst Black, Salmon is candid about the "massive pressure" that comes with following up a hit first season. But it's pressure that he's somewhat accustomed to now, talking about the fact that even after the original pilot, there was international fanfare, as well as RTS and BAFTA Award nominations.

"Nobody ever knew us before. We just did what we wanted and people loved it. So, this season, we kind of came on and just blocked out the noise and were just like, 'Well, what do we want?' Because we're all audience members as well. So, it was very much, 'What do we find interesting?' and let's just talk about that," Salmon says.

"It was a much smoother ride this time, I felt like the first time we had no idea what we were doing and just kind of making it up, whereas this time we felt a bit more confident, a bit more composed. We knew the characters now, so it was just like, 'Oh, what do we want them to do?' So it was just a more fun experience."

Salmon jokes that Dreaming Whilst Black is a documentary and this season in particular will hit many nails on the head for anyone who is familiar with the TV industry. Where season 1 followed Salmon's Kwabena as he dreamt of making films while working a recruitment job, this new season sees Kwabena stepping further into the TV industry on the road to getting some more credits under his belt.

But Kwabena doesn't want to just work on anything, he wants to work on a show that will make a difference and empower marginalised voices in the process. In comes Sin and Subterfuge, a period drama that is helmed by a Black producer, Bridgette Julienne (Christine Adams) – but quickly, we see how a promising production can turn problematic.

Adjani Salmon as Kwabena in Dreaming Whilst Black season 2 smiling while sitting at an office desk and having a conversation.
Adjani Salmon as Kwabena in Dreaming Whilst Black season 2. BBC/Big Deal Films

Salmon describes Sin and Subterfuge as a "colour blind period drama" and in exploring that production within the series, we see "the inner workings of what it actually looks like behind the curtain of diversity. We look at how people with good intentions go into a situation and not get the outcome that they desire or that they were told everyone is trying to do. So, it's really just unpacking how bad things happen despite good intentions," he explains.

Not naming names about any source of inspiration for Sin and Subterfuge, Salmon playfully offers up the reminder that comes at the start of each episode of Dreaming Whilst Black that "all characters and events are based on fictional characters, and not based on any real event or likeness".

Exploring a topic like colour-blind casting is no small feat for a comedy but it's something that, once again, Dreaming Whilst Black pulls off with incredible ease. Drawing attention to these conversations whilst also having laugh-out-loud moments aplenty is just part of the DNA of this series, with Salmon saying that his main intention is for people to "just enjoy the show".

In tackling these big themes, Salmon says that it was important to approach it by showing the stages of power, the stages of gatekeeping, intention versus impact and also people's hidden agendas. But within that, it was also key for Salmon to show grace to everybody involved, explaining: "I don't necessarily think people go out and be like, 'I want to fail this Black man' [or,] 'This Black woman will never succeed.'

"I don't think people go in with that because when they do that, they just don't hire us. But it's when they do hire us, how that still happens. So we try to give everybody grace but just show this is how it is."

A series like Dreaming Whilst Black is of course nothing without its writers but even in the behind-the-scenes process of sitting down to think about Dreaming Whilst Black season 2, Salmon tells me that everything came together at a "weird stage".

When talking about the kind of mood and tone that he wanted to strike in this second season, Salmon explains: "Well, we went into the [writers'] room at this weird stage where Black Lives Matter happened, all these Black shows are commissioned. And then, all these Black shows didn't get recommissioned and all these other Black ideas didn't get commissioned.

"I'm kind of looking at the landscape thinking, 'It's a bit bleak that we're going back to square one'. So I was like, 'No, let's talk about it, let's talk about how great the times are.' So we wanted to just touch on that post-BLM world, where apparently the place is diverse and beaming with opportunity."

Adjani Salmon as Kwabena in Dreaming Whilst Black wearing a blue jumper with white clouds on it, staring off into the distance daydreaming.
Adjani Salmon as Kwabena in Dreaming Whilst Black. BBC/Big Deal Films/Gary Moyes

That kind of industry responsibility is one that Kwabena faces in season 2, with Salmon saying that he's carrying the weight of thinking that if he succeeds, it'll be good for all of us. But also, if he fails, then feeling as though he's failed his entire community.

"A more academic version of that is – season 1 is about the glass ceiling and season 2 is about the glass cliff, which we had to research just to even get it over the line. The glass cliff, in short, is structural inequities and equalities disguised as personal failure. So, the idea that we are given a shot but the shot's not really certified.

"But then when you fail, it's perceived as personal failure when actually, it's the institution that never really gave you a shot in the first place. This was first developed through the feminist movement, with women getting promoted in precarious situations and through later research, as Black women do, they found out that it affects Black people as well."

Thinking about how to dramatise these things on screen made mapping out season 2 quite complex, Salmon says, with the question of how to make these invisible notions visible for a wider audience always at the forefront of discussions. The writers' room for Dreaming Whilst Black is clearly a joyous memory for Salmon, who wastes no time in celebrating everyone involved and the impassioned conversations that would come from the ideation process alone.

One of the things to arise, especially from the female writers involved, was the return of Vanessa (Babirye Bukilwa). "His dream is Jamaica Road, but his dream is also Vanessa," Salmon offers. When we meet Kwabena again in season 2, he's trying to get over Vanessa but when he learns that she's back in London and not in New York anymore, it lights a fuse within him.

"Humanising the mandem" is what is important to Salmon and it's through the post-break-up haze that we see Kwabena navigate that we get another insight into his character. Speaking about what it meant to encapsulate that, Salmon says: "We're not expressive. We're not necessarily taught to be. To be honest, we're not necessarily celebrated when we are, which I completely understand and completely understand why there's no space to hold our feelings because we've been holding it back for so long."

Salmon wanted to show that Black men do have feelings and they're valid, knowing that it was important to show that realness but also, being held accountable by the Black women that these feelings also impact.

"Because yes, we deserve to express ourselves and yes, there's reasons why we don't express ourselves. But when we don't, someone's impacted by that. So, it was just trying to peel back the layers for the mandem so we can have a conversation."

In a similar fashion, we also see emotions run high between Kwabena and Amy (Dani Moseley) as Amy navigates the ideas of duty and responsibility with having wider career dreams. The privilege that Amy calls Kwabena out for is one that is similar to Salmon's own experiences of being able to live at his aunt's house and make a web series whilst his friends "had to keep working to pay these bills".

Dani Moseley as Amy in Dreaming Whilst Black season 2.
Dani Moseley as Amy in Dreaming Whilst Black season 2. BBC/Big Deal Films

It felt apt to explore that through the lens of a Black woman, Salmon says, with Black Tax being just one of the meaty concepts that they wanted to explore in season 2 to show the realities of being Black and, also, to make viewers feel seen.

Salmon hilariously offers up an anecdote of his mother putting down a 40-inch TV on a shopping list for him after the release of season 1, whereas his co-writer Ali Hughes was never asked of anything from his family.

"Even when we make it, we don't progress as fast as our white friends because we have family obligations," Salmon explains about Black Tax.

"Whereas, in my case it's my mother wanting a new TV, a lot of times for some of my other friends, it's like, 'Can you help out your little brother with football club or extra classes, school trips?' All of our income is not ours, we have a family that we have to help take care of because they themselves have sacrificed for us."

As a series writer, Salmon says it's important for him to always think about how he covers his own blind spots. "I'm a Black man who was raised in Jamaica, I don't know what it's like to be a Black woman. To be fair, I have a vague idea of what it's like to be siblings, but I'm an only child."

It's an admission that many TV writers could definitely take inspiration from, but in terms of thinking about the wider TV landscape – as this season of Dreaming Whilst Black also gets us to reflect on – what are Salmon's own thoughts about where we stand in regards to diversity, equity and inclusion?

"I've said it, a million people have said it, everybody's been saying it but I think fundamentally, we need to move away from intention versus impact. If I'm apologising to you, am I apologising because I want to relieve myself of guilt, or am I apologising because an apology will help you heal?

"I think the minute we start looking at these conversations from a position of impact, not 'What do I want to do?' but 'What do I want this person to do and feel by whatever action [I do]?'"

I finish off by recapping our previous conversation on the release of season 1, where Salmon professed to feeling an exciting shift being a Black producer in a time when it looked as though many Black-led shows were landing on our screens. Is it still the same feeling, I ask?

"To be Black is to be optimistic because if not, we might as well just pack up. But I will say it is more tricky. What I will say is that, fortunately, because of technology and access and streaming platforms, there are more opportunities for us," Salmon says.

"From the strikes that happened in America, there's less TV being made. So, it's tough for everybody. I even hear white men complain. So, it is generally a tricky time. But I just think in tricky times, people tend to make riskier decisions. So hopefully, that will mean opportunities for us."

Salmon beams about the success of shows like Supacell, Black Ops and Boarders, which just show the breadth of content on offer and are only the precipice of what can come if decision makers continue to see the value in platforming Black talent.

As for the future of Dreaming Whilst Black, Salmon jokes that if it were to get cancelled after season two, "the message of the show is crazy". With the way that things end for Kwabena, there's no doubt that we need more episodes and Salmon says that, like the show's fans, he wants to see Kwabena finally get to make Jamaica Road.

Could it involve a trip to Jamaica? Whilst Salmon doesn't have the answers for that question, he assures me that there's definitely more story to tell and would love the opportunity to do that.

"Kwabena's fought to be in the industry, been chewed up and spat out by it. So, at this point he has nothing to lose. He might as well go for it."

Dreaming Whilst Black seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on BBC iPlayer now.

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Check out more of our Comedy coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.

Authors

Morgan CormackDrama Writer

Morgan Cormack is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering everything drama-related on TV and streaming. She previously worked at Stylist as an Entertainment Writer. Alongside her past work in content marketing and as a freelancer, she possesses a BA in English Literature.

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