Adjoa Andoh Explains Anansi Boys Coming To BBC Radio This Christmas

Rooted In Folklore

♦ American Gods was a pretty big hit on TV but if you want more Neil Gaiman adaptations while you are waiting for Good Omens to hit Amazon, Radio Times has news that Gaiman’s Anansi Boys novel is being adapted for radio by the BBC to be broadcast this Christmas. Here is Adjoa Andoh aka Birdwoman explaining the history of the Anansi stories…

A synopsis for the drama can be read below:

When Fat Charlie’s dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie “Fat Charlie.” Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can’t shake that name, one of the many embarrassing “gifts” his father bestowed — before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie’s life.

Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie’s doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who’s going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun … just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie.

Because, you see, Charlie’s dad wasn’t just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself.

Anansi Boys will also star Tanya Moodie, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Joseph Marcell, Julie Hesmondhalgh, Cecilia Noble, Angela Wynter, Adjoa Andoh, Sheila Atim, Pippa Bennett-Warner and (as mentioned by Gaiman) 100-year-old actor Earl Cameron, one of the first black actors to take roles in British film.