When creating any form of art, it’s almost a given that it’ll reflect the social and political issues of the time – whether intentional, or by accident.
In new BBC drama Years and Years, this idea is tackled head on. A large-scale drama, it shows how one extended family reacts to the changing environment they live in over the course of 15 years. From dealing with an increasing digital presence in almost every aspect of their lives, to the rise fringe, extremist political groups who thrive off of making headlines for saying whatever they’d like.
T’Nia Miller stars as Celeste Bisme-Lyons, a chief accountant, wife to Stephen (Rory Kinnear) and mother of two, who finds herself frustrated with modern technology – and in the series’ first episode, she discovers just how much of a hold the digital world has on eldest daughter Bethany, who announces that she identifies as ‘trans-human’, with the desire to rid herself of her physical body in order to live somewhere in the ethers of the internet.
With the show likely to become one of the big British releases of the year, we spoke to T’Nia Miller about her part in the show, her views on the future, the ‘Angry Black Woman’ sterotype and how shaving her head helped her fall in love with herself.
Years and Years is off to a really great start – I love how it’s shining a light on life right now, and where it can go. It’s uncanny, and a little frightening. What’s one of the most disconcerting elements of the show for you?
It’s a difficult question to answer actually, because I’m quite close to it. I still think the trans-human thing freaked me out the most, because it’s a possible reality, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. Instinctively, I’d say that’s a bad thing. That’s the most concerning disconcerting thing.
It’s something that sounds like a wild idea right now, but the way she justified it, you can see it happening. Do you think we’re heading in that direction?
Yeah, it’s something we might be going towards. There was an episode of Friends that my own daughter pointed out to me where they say the contents of your head can be downloaded into data! And I was like, ‘oh shit, that was 20 years ago!’ It feels more and more like we’re making those advances towards that direction. And the conspiracist in me is thinking: those with any sort of power wanting to reduce the world’s population – what a wonderful way to do it.
In the first episode, we see a couple of tense moments between Celeste and Gran, Muriel (Anne Reid). Are we going to see more of this going forward?
Oh my God, yeah – definitely. They’re both matriarchs who don’t take any shit. They say: two bull cya’an rule inna one pen – and I think in their sense, they’re at loggerheads and their politics do conflict, but essentially they both love their family.
Celeste called Muriel out for a racially tense comment towards her granddaughter Rosie’s half-Chinese son. These moments of ignorance often get glossed over out of fear of rocking the boat – and that’s often hard for women of colour in largely white environments to do. Have you ever had to do that yourself?
You know, it’s a hard- well, not a hard choice, but you just get exhausted, right? It happens, living in this society. A lot of the time, it’s sheer ignorance – it’s not malicious. But because it’s ignorance, it’s insidious, and it feeds a narrative that we need to really address. I’m not the best diplomat by any means, but I do have a lot of love that balances it out, thankfully, so I’m not ‘threatening’ – but otherwise, you come across as the angry black woman, for picking at something. People start walking on eggshells around you, if you do address things, or pull people up on something. A lot of the time, it’s about white guilt. White, middle-class liberal guilt – that’s something I come across.
Years and Years is a bold show, calling out things as it’s happening, like Trump, and the environment – and things that could happen in the future. As a public figure, do you find it difficult to engage publicly with political views?
Yes and no. Like I said, I lack diplomacy, so I have to be careful in how I speak sometimes! But I always speak for my truth. So yes, and no. Also, I have a great spiritual faith, so I tend not to get too caught up in the worldly, earthly stuff. The way we treat each other as human beings is equally shit and awful and horrific as it is beautiful. But if we continue to destroy ourselves and the planet; it’s the planet that will ultimately win. When we talk about global warming, what will happen is that we will kill ourselves as a species. Everything else will just continue, but without us. And in that way I’m like, you mek yuh bed, yuh haffi lie in it! (She laughs.) God I’m a right mum, aren’t I!
Let’s talk image. You’re a Black actress with a shaved head, and you’ve had that for most of your career. It’s really beautiful to see a black woman able to do such versatile roles with such a strong look. Was that your intention, starting your career? Is it a statement?
No – actually it was really scary when I first cut my hair, because I wasn’t really a jobbing actor at that point, and I thought, ‘Am I gonna get work?’ I had what they’d call at that time ‘good hair’, and because there was so much of it, it’d take hours and hours for my my mum to wash and blow dry it, let alone plait it up for the week. So at age 10, she relaxed my hair, and by the time I got to my early 20s, I used to hide behind my hair all the time. I had this long, relaxed hair, and I was thinking, ‘What am I trying to say? What is that about?’ It sort of was a lightbulb moment, and I said: ‘You know what? I’m gonna cut it off. I’ma start from ground zero and grow an afro.’ I was sitting in the barber shop, and he cut my hair and I fell in love with my skull… and I never turned back. And actually, it’s afforded me to be able to play a diverse range of roles – it had totally the opposite effect that I feared. Where I thought I’d be very limited to what I’d be seen for, it’s done the opposite. So this was borne out of an integrity of loving the self and not having to hide, and loving the fact that I’m an African. Here I am. Zimme ya? Wid my big broad lips and nose. This is me.
Years and Years starts on Tuesday 14th May on BBC One, 9pm.
