The Boy With The Topknot: First screening of Sathnam Sanghera BBC drama goes down a treat

The first ever screening of upcoming BBC drama The Boy With The Topknot, based on the best-selling memoir of award-winning journalist and author Sathnam Sangera, who grew up in Heath Town, took place in London on Tuesday.

Speaking to the Express & Star, the man behind the tale spoke of the 'intense' evening at London's British Film Institute, where a crowd of 400 friends, family, members of the public and TV critics were given access to the first airing of the 90 minute programme ahead of its release in November.

Mr Sanghera said: "I thoroughly enjoyed my evening but I have to admit it was very strange.

"At a first screening event like this, it feels like the whole crowd is watching you watch this story about yourself and reading your reactions.

"The programme is based on my book but I didn't have much involvement in it, which means that if it wasn't very good I could have blamed everyone else.

"However, I think it is absolutely fantastic, so I want to give credit to the actors, producers and director for their excellent work.

"I had seen it a couple of times before but it was great to get a really positive reaction from a large crowd, it really certifies that this is a fantastic project."

Filming of the 90-minute programme has been taking place across Wolverhampton and Birmingham in July.

Sherlock and Last Tango in Halifax actor Sacha Dhawan plays the adult Sathnam in the TV drama.

Other actors and actresses in the show include Joanna Vanderham, who starred in 2015 film The Go-Between, in the role of Sathnam’s girlfriend, Laura, and Anupam Kher and Deepti Naval, from Bend it like Beckham and Lion fame respectively, who star as Sathnam’s parents.

Born in Wolverhampton to Punjabi parents, the book is an account of his childhood in the 1980s where he was later forced to face up to painful family secrets, not least that his father and sister had suffered from schizophrenia. He also defied expectations of an arranged marriage.

The book is described by the BBC as a ‘humorous, touching and emotional story of a second-generation Indian growing up in Britain’.

Mr Sanghera, who is a writer for The Times, added he was pleased to see some reminders of home at the screening.

He said: "There were a number of Wolves shirts I made out at the screening and I heard the odd Black Country accent, which is always a treat."

Amongst the familiar faces in the crowd was Wolverhampton's own Meera Syal, best known for her work on BBC sitcoms Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars, who took to Twitter to call the project an 'important, moving, landmark film'.