True love is a homewrecker in Mr Loverman

BAFTA-winning new M-Net series Mr Loverman, based on the novel of the same name by Bernardine Evaristo, spotlights the UK’s Windrush generation of Caribbean immigrants and how their attempts to keep up appearances warp the lives of the Walker family. 

Watch Mr Loverman on Wednesdays from 20 August at 9PM on M-Net Channel 101.

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A sharp-dressed man

The Walker family’s patriarch, 74-year-old Barrington "Barry" Jedidiah Walker (Lennie James, in a BAFTA-winning performance), is a contradiction: "Loyal but disloyal, a good and bad husband, a good and bad father, a good and bad man. He loves and hates in equal measure," reveals 60-year-old Lennie. 

Barry has been "happily" married for 50 years, while secretly cheating on his wife Carmel (Sharon D Clarke) with his real lifelong love – his supposed best friend Morris De La Roux (Ariyon Bakare, who also won a BAFTA for the role). Outside the house, everybody in Hackney’s immigrant community "knows" and loves Barry. What a character this Antiguan-born businessman is! It’s just a shame that his wife Carmel seems so glum and careworn when Barry is so lively and charming. 

But while Barry's charisma and style draw our eyes, it’s Carmel who makes us pause.

A bitter Carmel centre

It was actress Sharon D Clarke's job to communicate what 50 years of crushed dreams can do to a woman's heart. While Barry has lived with a great, secret love his whole life, Carmel has almost only experienced rejection. 

"On her wedding night, she dreamed of how he would touch her and how they would live in England; dreaming about the white picket fences and the China tea sets. In her mind, she had this idyllic life that she's going to have with her fine, beautiful, upstanding husband," explains Sharon. "She’s been in love with him since she was seventeen and she’s just waiting for that love to be returned and it just isn't, so it then makes her bitter. It also makes her question herself – she has this good man, so why don’t they have this perfect lifestyle and why don’t they have the loving side of the relationship, the humane and gentle side?"

If he’s perfect, it has to be me

Despite Barry’s "best friend" Morris De La Roux (Ariyon Bakare) practically living in the Walkers' pockets, homosexuality has been such a taboo topic in the Caribbean community that Carmel is convinced that Barry has been cheating on her with a string of sex workers throughout their marriage. And sadly for Carmel, she grew up in a household where if a man misbehaved, a woman was to blame.

"She's a product of a father who is abusive to her mother, so has grown up with that," says Sharon. "She believes she is not sexy enough, which is why she thinks her man is straying, because she isn’t keeping it down at home. Barry spends most of his time with Morris and as far as she’s concerned, they’re mates. It’s very complicated and sad."

A mother’s tainted love

Carmel's life is not completely devoid of love. She and Barry have two daughters, Donna (Sharlene Whyte) and Maxine (Tamara Lawrance). But the great lie between the couple has filtered down to their children, too, dividing their household.

"Donna is Carmel’s confidante and her golden-eyed girl. She's also given her the gift of a beautiful grandson, Daniel (Tahj Miles), and that makes Carmel so proud. Carmel and Donna always look out for each other," reveals Sharon. "Carmel and Maxine have a slightly different story. When Carmel was pregnant with Maxine, she developed post-natal depression which meant she couldn't touch her or be around her, resulting in Maxine’s care being in Barry’s hands. They have a great bond as he was the one looking after her when she was younger."

"So you have these two parents with their individual children in some ways," adds Sharon. "Later on in the story, it's Maxine that helps him come out and it's Donna that is Carmel's confidante and helps her through the grief of the relationship."

It’s never too late for the truth

Mr Loverman is not just the tale of Barry's great, secret love, it's the story of how lies twist and break people – and how it’s never too late for the truth to start healing. "There’s themes of betrayal, loss, guilt, secrets and how they can destroy and stop people living their authentic lives," says Sharon. "We’re at a time now where we’re talking about what I call the 'rainbow community' and people being able to live their lives authentically. However, the series can help for a generation to understand what went before and how hard that was – to just be yourself and feel safe to do so."

Watch Mr Loverman on Wednesdays from 20 August at 9PM on M-Net Channel 101.