Black Ops (TV series)

Black Ops is a British television comedy series made for BBC One starring Hammed Animashaun, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen, the latter two also being co-creators, writers and executive producers.^[1] The first series aired in May 2023. A second series was commissioned in August 2023.^[2]

Black Ops
Created by	Gbemisola Ikumelo Akemnji Ndifornyen Joe Tucker Lloyd Woolf
Written by	Joe Tucker Lloyd Woolf Gbemisola Ikumelo Akemnji Ndifornyen Racheal Ofori
Directed by	Ben Gregor
Starring	Gbemisola Ikumelo Akemnji Ndifornyen Hammed Animashaun
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	6
Production
Executive producers	Gbemisola Ikumelo Akemnji Ndifornyen Josh Cole Joe Tucker Lloyd Woolf
Producer	Carol Harding
Cinematography	Luke Palmer
Editor	Mark Williams
Production companies	BBC Studios Mondo Deluxe
Original release
Network	BBC One
Release	5 May 2023 (2023-05-05) – present

Synopsis

In East London, Dom and Kay are two police community support officers who join the Greater London Police and find themselves working undercover.^[3]

Cast and characters

• Gbemisola Ikumelo as Dom
• Hammed Animashaun as Kay
• Akemnji Ndifornyen as Tevin
• Ariyon Bakare as Detective Inspector Clinton Blair
• Felicity Montagu as Superintendent Edwards
• Colin Hoult as Officer Price
• Robbie Gee as Morris
• Jo Martin as Julie
• Karlina Grace-Paseda as Elder Bunmi
• Jaz Hutchins as Breeze
• Joanna Scanlan as Chief Inspector Garner
• Rufus Jones as Inspector Scholes
• Emma Sidi as Marsh Ranger
• Marek Larwood as Police Officer
• Zoe Wanamaker as Celia Herrington
• Alex MacQueen as Marcus
• Katherine Kelly as Kirsty
• Lucy Thackeray as Linda

Episodes

Series 1 (2023)

No. overall	No. in series	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Episode 1"	Ben Gregor	Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf	5 May 2023 (2023-05-05)
Police Community Support Officers Dominique and Kayodi find themselves recruited by Detective Inspector Clinton Blair to go undercover and infiltrate a gang dealing drugs on the Brightmarsh estate. To create a plausible cover story they get themselves fired and steal drugs the police have earmarked for incineration to resell on the estate. Having encroached on the gang's turf they are soon noticed and find themselves forcibly recruited by the gang. When tasked with burying a dead body they are shocked to find it is DI Blair.
2	2	"Episode 2"	Ben Gregor	Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen	12 May 2023 (2023-05-12)
Fearing their cover is blown, the duo start to dig, however they realise that DI Blair may have communicated the undercover operation to someone he trusted. They decide to remove the deceased's finger to unlock and search his mobile phone. Having ascertained his home address, they break in and find a dossier, but before they have a chance to leave, another uninvited visitor also gains entry. It is none other than Superintendent Edwards.
3	3	"Episode 3"	Ben Gregor	Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf	19 May 2023 (2023-05-19)
The freshly dug grave is discovered by a group of schoolchildren. The duo come to the conclusion that the police are turning a blind eye to drug dealing on the estate. After being robbed of their drugs and with no chance of meeting the sales target the Brightmarsh estate gang have set them, Dom and Kay, resort to robbing the youth pastor's church fund. Dom realises that the messages on DI Blair's phone from Kirsty make her the most likely to be his trusted contact.
4	4	"Episode 4"	Ben Gregor	Racheal Ofori	26 May 2023 (2023-05-26)
Dom and Kay meet Kirsty and break the news of Clinton Blair's death. Expecting help but finding none, they are led to believe that Kirsty was only a casual acquaintance of the dead officer. Superintendent Edwards announces the discovery of DI Blair's body to the press, adding that he had been under internal investigation by the anti-corruption unit. Dom and Kay break into Superintendent Edwards' office and search her diary for clues. They follow her to a nursing home where she visits an elderly lady, presumably her mother.
5	5	"Episode 5"	Ben Gregor	Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf	2 June 2023 (2023-06-02)
Realising that the elderly lady was not Superintendent Edwards' mother, Dom and Kay decide to investigate further by volunteering at the care home. They discover the name of the lady as Celia Herrington and attempt to bug a conversation between her and Superintendent Edwards but fail to catch the part where Superintendent Edwards admits to involvement in the death of DI Blair and that she now wants out. Celia Herrington receives another visitor later who turns out to work for the Ministry of Defence.
6	6	"Episode 6"	Ben Gregor	Joe Tucker and Lloyd Woolf	9 June 2023 (2023-06-09)
Superintendent Edwards is assassinated by a bogus delivery man and Dom and Kay are followed by the same group who attempt to eliminate them too. After the failed attempt on their lives, Celia Herrington contacts Dom and suggests a meeting with a view to making a trade for the dossier. At the meeting, Kay secures a confession from Celia and her Ministry of Defence contact whilst secretly recording it. With the dossier and recording in the safe hands of Kirsty, the truth is finally revealed and the Brightmarsh gang arrested. DI Blair's name is cleared and the duo find themselves reinstated as PCSOs.

Production

In August 2021 the BBC confirmed that the six-part comedy thriller series would be produced by BBC Studios and Mondo Deluxe for BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The creators were announced as Gbemisola Ikumelo, Akemnji Ndifornyen, Joe Tucker, and Lloyd Woolf; the show was commissioned by Tanya Qureshi with Akemnji Ndifornyen as producer and Josh Cole as executive producer.^[4] The series is directed by Ben Gregor.^[5]

Said to be both a comedy and a thriller, Ikuelmo told Deadline Hollywood that "I love that the lines have become so muddied. When it's dark, it's really dark and when it's comedic, it's really funny, and I love mixing the two and bending genres."^[6]

In August 2023, it was commissioned for a second series^[7] and its filming started in February 2025.^[8]

Casting

Hammed Animashaun, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen lead the cast of the series.^[9] The cast of the first series also included Ariyon Bakare, Joanna Scanlan, Robbie Gee, Jo Martin, and Felicity Montagu.^[10] For the second series, BBC announced Tom Stourton, Nigel Havers, Annette Badland, Ed Speleers and Cathy Tyson as guests.^[8]

Filming

Filming began in June 2022 in Luton.^[11][12] Filming also took place in Thamesmead and in Waltham Forest.^[13] Filming on the second series took place on location in Wigan and Manchester in February 2025.^[14][15]

Music

Music for the show was completed by Lindsay Wright and Tawiah.^[16]

Broadcast

Black Ops debuted in the UK on BBC One on 5 May 2023 at 9:30 pm, with episodes airing weekly and being available immediately on BBC iPlayer.^[17]

On February 25, 2025, all six episodes became available in the United States on Hulu.^[18]

Reception

Critical reception

Opinions about the first series were favourable overall despite many reviewers' initial reservations about finding humour in police racism and gang violence. The highest acclaim came from Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian, who gave the show five stars, calling it "pitch-perfect, star-packed joy" and that "Black Ops merges broad comedy with bent copper crime drama to hilarious and nail-biting effect".^[19]

Benji Wilson of the Daily Telegraph awarded the show four stars and stated the series "gets it all rather joyously right" with the "a terrific pairing" in the lead roles who "ace it".^[20]

Vicky Jessop writing for The Evening Standard gave Black Ops a three-star review, opining that the "campy, farcical tone works in some areas [but not] in others" but "you can forgive it almost anything because, for the most part, this show is funny" and "there are more than enough gags to compensate".^[21] Three-star reviews were also awarded by Nick Hilton of The Independent^[22] and Dan Einav of the Financial Times,^[23] the former stating that "despite a clever title" the "police sitcom is charming enough, but it lacks bite."

Accolades

Tawiah & Lindsay Wright were nominated in the Best Music Original Score - Scripted category at the 2023 Royal Television Society Craft & Design Awards.^[24] In February 2024, the series won at the Broadcast Awards in the Best Comedy Programme category.^[25]

The series received four nominations at the Royal Television Society Programme Awards in March 2024. Joe Tucker, Lloyd Woolf, Gbemisola Ikumelo and Akemnji Ndifornyen for Best Comedy Writing, as well as the series being nominated for Best Scripted Comedy.^[26] The two lead actors were winners in the Best Comedy Performance categories.^[27]

In March 2024, Ikumelo won Best Female Comedy Performance at the 2024 British Academy Television Awards. Additionally, Animashaun was nominated for Male performance in a comedy programme.^[28]