Ever since reading ‘Noughts and Crosses’ all the way back in Year 7, I fell passionately in love with the series, almost rivalling the actual love story of the two main protagonists. So, you can only imagine my delight in March 2020 when I discovered the BBC had commissioned the series, and again in April 2022 when season two dropped (in fact, this very week.) All this to say that this series has meant a lot to me, over five books and two seasons of TV, and yet I will still attempt to provide an unbiased review for the TV show.
For anyone who is unaware, ‘Noughts + Crosses’ takes place in an alternate reality, where a ruling black minority class (the Crosses) have occupied Britain aka Albion taking control over the oppressed majority white class (Noughts.) The narrative follows Callum McGregor, a young Nought who yearns for a better future following his acceptance into a Cross school (turned Military school in the series) and his friendship and doomed romance with Persephone Hadley, the Cross daughter of the foreign secretary/prime minister Kamal Hadley. When Malorie Blackman released the book in 2001 it became a smash hit, with schools up and down the country since putting it onto school reading lists and even onto curricula. So, it would make sense for the TV series to follow in its footsteps. How could it not, after all, with a very popular franchise and the tried and tested trope of star-crossed lovers? And yet, in 2020 when the series was first aired, it divided critics and the audience, with opposing opinions on everything from the story to the characters, to the racial commentary, even to the set design. And, already, the second series seems to have generated the same response. So how did the BBC make such a controversial show?
The obvious reason any TV adaptation fails is of course, “The book did it better.” I, myself, have furiously muttered these words at the screen during many movie or TV adaptions of my childhood classics that failed to live up to my expectations. However, as a keen fan of the original series of Noughts + Crosses I am not convinced by this argument. Whilst the adaptation does of course make some noticeable changes, such as aging up the two main characters, and omitting certain storylines in preference to further exploration of ‘villains’ from the books, these are purely practical changes in order to condense a 500-page novel into a TV series. Personally, the changes, rather than detract from the main story, I find, enhance it, enjoying new takes on old characters. Certainly, the series benefitted hugely from the visual medium. The world-building in the series is truly beautiful, from the South African architectural spin to the London skyline, to the intricate tribal patterns on everyday clothes, with duller, plainer clothes that many of us would wear today, reserved only for those actively rebelling against the system. The majority of black female characters showcase their natural hair, with Nought women putting their hair in perms in attempts to replicate afros. Black actors get a chance to shine on screen, against a fantastic soundtrack from mostly black artists. Not only does this produce a stunning effect onscreen, but makes some of the racial commentary even more effective, launching us into an entirely different world, which is predominantly ‘made for black people’ from architecture, to fashion, to dark brown plasters instead of peach ones, all holding up a mirror to the England we currently live in, where we see whiteness as ‘the norm.’ The pacing of the TV series is undeniably fast, and ironically the central love story is side-lined more often than not, yet they manage to still produce a poignant and action-packed story.
The racial commentary is, of course, the most discussed feature of the series online. It can be, in part, a little heavy-handed and oversimplified, yet this does conform with the messaging it’s trying to put across, a world where we – the audience, and specifically the white audience, are forced to imagine what if. A lot of the series does rest heavily around police brutality, and in the first episode of the first season, after a run-in with a black police officer, Callum’s best friend Daniel Hixon is killed. It’s shocking and undeniably brutal, and, as it aired a few weeks before the tragic murder of George Floyd in 2020, incredibly relevant, showcasing the fear that is caused when people cannot even rely on their country’s own security services to protect them. However, the series trips up in its own concept. Albion, the alternative Britain, was occupied by Cross forces, and continues to be propped up by the distant superpower, Aprica. This resembles far more South Africa’s experience under the British empire, and Albion does function rather like an apartheid state, with interracial relationships criminalised, and a heavily imposed segregation of all kinds. Some people claim that this makes Noughts and Crosses far less relevant that the series would like to think, giving the excuse for the British audience to distance themselves from the racism they are trying to showcase. Furthermore, Albion is advertised as a ‘dystopian society,’ which could give further cause for us as an audience to disassociate from it. Racism is still worryingly prevalent in our society and still causes irreparable damage for those who are victims of it. The concept is flawed, yet for the most part, I found the commentary they did make in the show, for the most part, well-handled. (Although if you do go on to watch the series, or have already seen it, please feel free to disagree or contact me with your thoughts – I would love to know.)
For the most part, I think ‘Noughts + Crosses’ has been so divisive due to the BBC’s handling of it as a series. Personally, I feel they believed so much in the importance of the show’s discussion of race that they forgot that the premise is fundamentally aimed at young adults. Clearly, they believed that by aging the characters out of their teenage years it would be more accessible to adults, yet the story remains at its core a teen drama. Young people, just on the verge of adulthood, who make bold and impulsive decisions, who fall in love against the wishes of overly controlling parents, all with an incredibly fast paced plot to go alongside it. Yet instead of marketing it to people like me, who can’t help but love a good teen drama, and who have prior knowledge of the books, they marketed it to people like my mum, and gave it a prime-time slot (9:00 on BBC 1.) It left many of the adults who watched it confused, who could see that it was made for teenagers, whilst teenagers often went by not knowing of its existence. It’s a shame, considering that other teen dramas that came out at this time skyrocketed to huge success – say, ‘Outer Banks’. It seems strange to say, but the two series have a lot in common – for example a divided society with a love story that binds the two communities. Obviously, ‘Noughts + Crosses’ deals with far heavier topics, but it shows the failure of the BBC to make it the success it could have been.
To sum up, I believe ‘Noughts + Crosses’ is still very much well worth the watch, streaming now on BBC iPlayer for anyone who loves an angsty teen love story, with stunning set design and some real-world issues to go along with it.
