Based on Malorie Blackman’s Noughts + Crosses series of novels the TV adaptation sees the BBC enter into the YA dystopian genre.
700 years ago in an alternative timeline, the Aprican Empire had conquered Europe, including the British Isles. In the lands of Albion society has split into two classes: the light-skinned Noughts and black-skinned Crosses. The Crosses control the political, economic and cultural power and the Noughts are discriminated underclass.
Within this society there are two young people. There is Callum McGregor (Jack Rowan), a Nought who has applied to become a military officer, and Sephy Hadley (Masali Baduza), the daughter of the powerful Home Secretary (Patterson Joseph). They meet for the first time in years at a party and quickly start to form a friendship despite it being taboo.
Blackman is famous for being an author of young adult fiction in the UK: she was the Children’s Laureate for two years. Her background and ethnicity is a big influence on her writing: she famously wrote a Doctor Who episode about Rosa Parks. Noughts + Crosses was obvious with its themes of racism and discrimination.
The society in Noughts and Crosses was influenced by Apartheid South Africa, Segregation-era America, and colonial regimes of the 19th and 20th centuries. In this world interracial relationships are prohibited, the Crosses live in wealth and opulence whilst the Noughts live in poverty, and the Noughts have to do service jobs for the Crosses.
The first episode opens with a group of young Noughts getting stopped and questioned by the police which leads to violence. Audiences can easily see parallel with modern issues in the US and UK. The media paints the incident as Nought aggression even though video evidence points to the contrary.
This episode was all about world-building. It showed the growing tensions between the races: Nought areas were covered with anti-Cross graffiti and racism was an institution. Crosses have assumptions that Noughts are violent and lazy. Even so-called intelligential people like a lecturer were prejudice against Noughts – even though he states he has nothing against the race. It’s that type of causal racism that exists in the real world. The word “Blanker” had developed in this world. Blanker was this world’s version of the N-word: it was okay for Noughts to say it to each other, but a slur if a Cross uses it.
The series does show that there was a lot of complicated then Noughts good, Crosses bad. Within the Noughts community, there were different viewpoints. Callum wants to join the army because so he can prove Noughts don’t live up to the stereotypes and change the system from within. His brother, Jude (Josh Dylan) wants to take action against the ruling classes. The character of Jack Dorn (Shaun Dingwall) wanted to incite a revolution and willing to do anything to make it happen. He was a Malcolm X/Magneto type character.
Within the Cross community, Sephy has an awakening: she becomes aware of the plight of the Noughts. She becomes a sympathiser and tries to do small actions to help the Noughts, even if her presence isn’t welcome. The government is divided: the Prime Minister (Raike Ayola) was a moderate who wanted to defuse tensions, whilst the Home Secretary wanted to take a more hardline approach. Even though the Home Secretary was a political hardliner he was still portrayed to be a loving father and husband, at least at this point in the story.
As well as being a political and social fable, Noughts + Cross is a Romeo & Juliet/star-crossed lovers story. Callum and Sephy are from different backgrounds as well as races who enter into a forbidden relationship. It’s the type of story that can appeal to fans of franchises like The Hunger Games.
The first episode of Noughts + Crosses does a great job of setting up its world, politics, and characters, and it has hooked me in to continue watching the show.
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