India-born Farrukh Dhondy has led a colourful life. He’s a writer, activist, screenwriter, journalist, founding member of the British Black Panthers and former commissioning editor at Channel Four Television... I read this list of job titles to him and he laughs, ‘You forgot the most important ones: boulevardier, séducteur, flâneur!’
Dhondy’s work has shaped my own life. I grew up watching the TV shows that the now 81-year-old commissioned – shows which championed the Black and Asian experience in ways other programmes did not, and were made by a multi-ethnic cast and crew, including Desmond’s, Tandoori Nights, and Devil’s Advocate.
