In 2020, Candice Carty-Williams was the first black woman to win top prize at the British Book Awards with her critically acclaimed novel about a 25-year-old Jamaican-British woman navigating South London, dating, the media world and her declining mental health. The highly-anticipated television adaptation stars the perfectly cast Dionne Brown in the titular role and she confidently brings the character to life in all her messy glory. 

When Queenie’s white boyfriend breaks up with her for being ‘too much’, she hits some ghastly dating apps to meet the dregs of humanity: men who dehumanise and use her beautiful body for their own selfish needs. Meanwhile, Queenie is making terrible quarter-life crisis choices and struggling with abandonment issues with her mother. The show delves into how this has impacted her friendships, relationships and, in turn, her sex life, while exploring the meaning of love with lots of humour and heart. 

Queenie’s inner monologue is especially frank and funny in the darkest of circumstances. When life comes crashing down around her, the direction by Joelle Mae David and Makalla McPherson creates an ambience of overwhelming helplessness with woozy, discomforting camera work. What made the book so special was the nuanced way in which Queenie was depicted. She’s resilient yet vulnerable, ambitious but lacking in confidence, lost but searching for answers.

Carty-Williams has noted the influence of Bridget Jones’ Diary on her writing and this romcom about learning to love yourself may nod to that book with a visual joke but it is entirely distinct and energising in its own right. Queenie is a deeply amusing and gorgeous character portrait of how a black woman struggling with her mental health moves and exists in the modern day. 

Queenie is available on Channel 4 from Tuesday 4 June.