David Oyelowo Set To Produce New BBC Series, “Biafra”

Golden Globe Award-nominated film star, David Oyelowo is executively producing a BBC limited series about Biafra with the newly launched UK indie Argo Films and Fremantle.

Argo films, led by Richard Johns is set to collaborate with David Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon Productions and Fremantle for Biafra. The limited series is being produced by Johns, Oyelowo, Isimeme Ibazebo of Turnover Films and Christian Vesper, Fremantle president of global drama. Bola Agbaje, a Laurence Olivier Award-winning writer is writing the script alongside Ngozi Onwurah who is attached to direct.

Biafra is set in Nigeria and the UK, with the story developing across the 1967-70 Biafra War and the present day. Presented through the lens of a young Black British woman, the series explores the largely forgotten events in the shared history of both countries. Biafra combines themes of identity, family and belonging with character-led personal stories.

Speaking on the project, David Oyelowo who is of Nigerian descent described Biafra as “one of my most treasured projects,” stating that the series satisfies his desire to “see African stories told at the highest level.”

Johns, who launched Agro Films a week ago said, “Britain and Nigeria have a hugely important, multi-layered, and historic relationship, one that is very much alive today. With this series, we are setting ourselves the mission of telling an incredibly powerful story about discovering and reclaiming a lost identity and a forgotten history.”