The deeply personal film, Handle with Care: Jimmy Akingbola will air this autumn on ITV.
The number of children in care has risen by a massive 28% in the past decade to almost half a million. Of the children in Britain awaiting adoption, over 40% are black, yet black foster families are rare in comparison, resulting in white parents raising children from other ethnicities and cultures.
In this deeply personal film, acclaimed actor and presenter Jimmy Akingbola will tell his own story and in doing so, reveals the truth of growing up in the care system in England.
At two years old Jimmy was uprooted from his Nigerian family and fostered by a white British family, who raised him alongside their birth children as if he were their own.
Now living in the bright lights of Hollywood with a glittering career, Bel-Air star Jimmy returns home to Britain to reflect on how his upbringing shaped him.
Jimmy speaks to his own foster family and biological siblings about their feelings and meets fellow actor Lennie James and retired Olympic athlete Kriss Akabusi, who both share their own personal stories of foster and adopted care and children’s homes, good and bad.
While exploring themes of identity, abandonment, the importance of role models and cultural connection, this thoughtful, engaging and emotional film, directed by Andy Mundy-Castle, considers whether a loving family, no matter their ethnicity, is always more important than racial or cultural differences.
Handle with Care: Jimmy Akingbola will air this autumn on ITV