University writer Alex Wheatle’s early years relived on screen by Oscar winning filmmaker

The extraordinary early life story of author and lecturer Alex Wheatle will be powerfully retold told in Academy Award-winner Steve McQueen’s critically acclaimed anthology Small Axe.

Alex Wheatle (Sunday, 9pm, BBC One) follows the writer’s childhood journey from an abusive care home, to finding a community and passion for DJing and music in Brixton, and finally a spell in prison following the Brixton Uprising of 1981, where he “confronts his past and sees a path to healing”.

Each Small Axe film tells a story involving London’s West Indian community from the 1960s to 1980s, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will, despite rampant racism and discrimination. Even though the stories are set decades ago, the stories are still vital and timely today.

Listen to the Metcast interview with Alex Wheatle

Wheatle, now Lecturer in Creative Writing at the Manchester Writing School at Manchester Metropolitan University, award-winning author of 15 books, as well as a poet and playwright, was first asked to be part of the Small Axe writing team – before a chance conversation with McQueen led to his own story reaching the screen.

McQueen, the Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning filmmaker, said: “Early on in our writer’s room, Alex touched upon his past. It soon became apparent to me that his story had to be a feature film.”

Wheatle said: “It overwhelmed me because I was laying bare all my most traumatic moments that I had as a child and as a young man trying to make his way in the world.

“But [McQueen] said it’s very important that stories like this appear in my series. When I think about it now, if I had to choose one director in the world to direct a story about me, it would be Steve McQueen.”

The film follows Wheatle’s young life, played by newcomer Sheyi Cole. Having grown up in an abusive children’s home, Wheatle moved to a hostel in Brixton as a teenager. Here, he co-founded the Crucial Rocker sound system and had a burgeoning music career as a DJ under the name Yardman Irie.

Then, after the devastating Deptford Fire that killed 13 young black Britons, and amid escalating community tensions with the police and high unemployment among young black men, came what has come to be known as the Brixton Riots. Alongside his friends, Wheatle took part in the protests and was ultimately imprisoned for four months, where he started on his journey to becoming a poet and novelist.

When I think about it now, if I had to choose one director in the world to direct a story about me, it would be Steve McQueen.”

Wheatle said: “I was observing those scenes in the director’s tent, and as I was watching the monitor it all brought it back right home for me.

 “Not just the excitement, but the fear as well. The panic, the pounding heart. That was all captured so beautifully.”

Small Axe co-writer Alastair Siddons said: “I spent many mornings talking to Alex, laughing and crying about his extraordinary childhood and formative years. What soon emerged was the story of a man who, against all odds, transcends real suffering to find his own path toward a spiritual and political awakening into Black consciousness.”

McQueen said: “Portraying his evolution was more than a task for both us, but the fact that Alex was there at hand to guide us at any stage was a luxury. There were many things and situations for Alex that were unlocked that hadn’t come to the surface for some time and with retrospect he saw in a new light.”

The film concludes with Wheatle in prison, where he met his cellmate Simeon, who encouraged him him to read everything from C.L.R James’ The Black Jacobins to Homer.

Wheatle said: “He was an avid reader and he got me to believe in myself. I was just hungry to learn about the black diaspora, the history of the Caribbean and Africa, and so he fed me with certain books that I could learn from. And that really improved me, my knowledge, my world history.

“And slowly and surely I managed to gain the confidence to attempt a novel. That was Brixton Rock, and it was finally published in 1999. And here I am today, 14 novels later being published in different languages around the world. It seems an incredible journey.”

What soon emerged was the story of a man who, against all odds, transcends real suffering to find his own path toward a spiritual and political awakening into Black consciousness

Wheatle won the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize in 2016 and was awarded an MBE for services to literature in 2008.

The Manchester Writing School is hosting a free event with Wheatle on Monday 14 December at 7pm.

A resource, created to support exploration of Alex’s work, including his YA novels, has been created for use in classrooms. This will be sent to anyone signing up to attend the event and a follow on event, specifically for schools who use the resource, will be hosted by the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies in March 2021.   

Ahead of the film premiere, Wheatle said: “Hopefully the viewer will see the power and the emotion of it all. This is a universal story of somebody who started off with very little opportunity, very little love, very little affection. And now, somehow I made it to be a writer.”