Malorie Blackman has admitted that she is considering quitting social media when the adaptation of her novel Noughts and Crosses is broadcast on BBC One.
Blackman’s series of young adult novels depicts an alternate world in which the black ruling classes, known as Crosses, are segregated from the white underclass, the Noughts.
The highly anticipated TV adaptation will debut in March and will star newcomer Masali Baduza as Sephy, a Cross, and Jack Rowan as Callum, a Nought, whose friendship and subsequent relationship goes against their society’s rules.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Blackman revealed that she is steeling herself for the response to the series to prioritise her “mental health.”
“My husband has told me to stay off social media, when it gets broadcast, to protect my mental health,” she told the magazine, adding: “I probably will.”
The series was first announced back in 2016 and Blackman explained that she felt “it was better to have it done right than quickly.”
She said that she believes it will now be released at the “right moment,” following the box office success of films including Black Panther and Hidden Figures.
She told Radio Times: “If it had come out four years ago I think the impact would have been different.
“Now, there’s the realisation that diverse stories do make money, like the films Black Panther and Hidden Figures – it would once have been much harder to get them off the ground.
“In publishing, too, people work for the bottom line, but now there’s an audience desperate for new content and new voices and I think a lot of people are waking up to that.”
The TV adaptation will feature a cameo from rapper Stormzy in his first acting role.
The grime star will play newspaper editor Kolawale, a new character created for the series.
Noughts and Crosses was published in 2001, and Blackman has since published four sequels.
She is currently writing Endgame, which will be the final instalment in the series.
Read the full interview in the new issue of Radio Times, out now. Noughts and Crosses begins on BBC One on Thursday March 5.
