Champion

This show started off pretty strong but it quickly turned into a series of cliché storylines straight out of a soap opera handbook.

The doomed love story, the family drama, the best friend feud, the dead relative, the bad decisions, the stereotypes characters, the disneyfied version of the music industry... It's a bit much.

The music is the only thing that's keeping me going at this point but as the episodes drone on, there's less and less of it.

I feel like there could be endless seasons of this show, they'd just find new and creative ways to add unnecessary drama but you'd keep on watching because the songs are all bangers.

Vita Champion has always lived in the shadow of her brother, world famous, but troubled rapper Bosco Champion, but one day the worm turns, and she starts working on her own, but will both careers thrive, or will one suffer?

Very relevant, politically and socially it felt like it needed to be put out, and not at some obscure time slot on BBC4, it feels a little padded at times, eight episodes is way too long, and it does lag in the middle, four episodes would have been so much better.

It's very well acted, it's very nicely produced, a great mix of music, it showcases the talents of Malcolm Kamulete and Déjà J Bowens, they're excellent. I loathed Beres, but Ray Fearon is great.

One issue I have, apart from Vita and Lennox, every other character is loathsome, Bosco, Beres, Aria, Mark, Honey, even Dawn, they're all utterly selfish, greedy, and ready to step all over one another. There's no good in any of them, I'm not too sure that's a fair representation.

I read one silly comment somewhere, about it lacking diversity, personally I've argued for years that I wanted to see dramas focusing on British Carribbean families, finally!!! Great to see, more of this please BBC.

7/10.

Champion's biggest selling point is the strong soundtrack. I believe they (half) attempted to make this work with Mood, but failed miserably. When it comes to music and beat, I'd easily give the series 10 stars. There is some serious British talent behind it.

Politically speaking, the show is relevant to current events. Whether that's a good thing in terms of watching an entertaining drama, is going to largely be up to individual viewers & their tastes & preferences. The first episode is quite meta in that it largely feels as if one is watching a news story about a social media video after it has gone viral. I'm unsure whether I'm saying that as a compliment. For anyone who has signed off of all social media platforms because of the continual drama over pretty much anything & everything, Champion starts to feel like you're being shoved back to the hamster wheel. I am hopeful this will get better.

The one thing that detracts from this series is the seemingly over the top selfishness of multiple characters. You can understand it from Vita's best friend, but the self absorption of her brother, and even worse, her mother (?!) is tough to watch. I have a large Greek family & there's definitely drama & people in everyone's business, however, I can't say any parent has tried to force one child to give up everything for their sibling. The mother expecting Vita to act as an assistant to her brother starts to become almost bizarre to the point her behaviour is borderline abusive. Bosco is completely self absorbed and self important.

What Champion offers is something different to other shows on the BBC. It is worth giving it a chance.

I really loved this show! I binged it and was genuinely emotional as I came to the end :') in my opinion, the characters are relatable and lovable. It's refreshing seeing a predominantly dark skin cast. I even really liked the music!! Which is NOT common for me and tv shows lol. But there's so much talent within this cast ranging from acting to music. Vita (Deja Bowens) has such a powerful voice and was so versatile music wise throughout the show!

I liked that the show did represent some things like how black daughters are expected to carry the weight of their brothers and sometimes even their families. They discussed mental health and showed how messed up prison systems effected Bosco. We had the lesbian couple <3

I'd say this show is definitely worth a watch.

Champion offers a great perspective from the journey of a British Jamaican musical family in London and the conflicts they face with Bosco dealing with his issues while pursuing a musical career and Vita his younger sister always being the one he depends on. Every single actor did a great job on this production, the visuals to this show is quality, glad that bbc is taking the black representation in multicultural London seriously.

Now I must say, not sure if Champion is created from an existing IP, it did not need to be a series, a movie would have been fine as it feels the story was too stretched out, 8 episodes could have been wrapped up in a 90 to two hour film. Some of the writing felt too repetitive and on the nose, the dialogue could have been better, still great job to cast and crew, would still recommend.