Top Boy legend Ashley Walters reveals hopes for directing after new film Animol: "Black men have done great things that we don’t talk about"

With key roles in hit series such as Top Boy and Adolescence, Ashley Walters has more than proven his weight in front of the camera over the years. But with new prison drama Animol, the star has taken on a role that was completely new to him: directing a feature film.

Although he'd had the chance to cut his teeth as a director on TV – helming episodes of Ackley Bridge and A Thousand Blows – taking the reigns for his own film was a radically different experience, as he explains to Radio Times in an exclusive interview.

"On a TV show you're facilitating someone else's vision," he says. "The framework exists and you're tapping into that. You're watched a lot more to make sure you're maintaining the overall vision of the writers' idea.

"It was a big shock to my system, coming out of TV and having that support, to be in a position where the producers say, 'Go, make your film.' It's very intense. It's a lot more responsibility."

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Clearly, Walters responded well to that responsibility. Animol was selected to play at the prestigious Berlin Film Festival in February and now arrives in UK cinemas on a wave of positive reviews (it currently sits at 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and received a 4-star verdict from Radio Times.)

That success begs the question, what would Walters like to tackle next as a director?
"There are some great stories," he answers. "I feel like historically there are a lot of prominent Black men – and women, but I’m saying men because I'm a man – that have done some great things that I don't think we talk about, that wasn’t taught to me in history when I was younger."

He continues: "I think it's really important that some of those stories are told in the best way possible. So I kind of resonate with those sort of things."

Walters adds that there's one possibility in particular he's "desperate to say" but he holds off actually naming it. "I don't want people to steal my ideas!" he laughs.

"But that sort of thing. I think what we found, especially with Adolescence, was that making a great drama and entertaining drama is great. Thumbs up. But if that drama can then translate into creating conversation, inspiring people to do other things, good things, then I think that's sweet."

Walters's directing success will no doubt be all the more sweet given he was previously advised against going down that road. Indeed, he says being told that directing might not be the best avenue for him at this particular point in his career only made him more determined to prove otherwise.

"It wasn't, 'You're s**t, you can't do it,'" he says. "It was, 'Right now, really?’ It was awkward, but I enjoy that.

"Nothing I've gained has been easy. If someone had just said, ‘Yeah, go on,’ I might not have wanted to do it. I enjoy the fight. I enjoy the push and pull.

"I think that's how you make great things happen, where people are interrogating every decision you make. So the idea of someone saying no to me is like a trigger. I'm going to prove you wrong!"

Animol is released in UK cinemas on Friday 30 October.

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Authors

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at Radio Times, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.