‘Wahala has attracted TV producers who want to bring it to the small screen’

When Nikki May had a long, and loud, lunch with Nigerian friends in London, little did she know while eating and drinking that she was sparking ideas in her brain that would lead to her writing an award-winning novel that is in the process of being made into a major BBC drama.

Born in Bristol before being raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Nikki is now back in the West Country, living in Dorset, and basking in the glory of her debut novel, Wahala, winning the Comedy Women In Print New Voice Prize 2023 as well as a host of rave reviews.

Speaking to The Book Insider, Nikki explains how Wahala came about and what it feels like to attract major TV producers who want to adapt the story for the small screen.

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Nikki said: “I moved to Dorset in 2005 with the grand idea of writing a book. But a blank piece of paper is incredibly frightening and it took me twelve more years to get started.

“Inspiration struck after a long – and very loud – lunch with friends at a Nigerian restaurant in London. As I boarded the slow Waterloo-Crewkerne train, I felt myself code-switch out of Nigerian me, into English me and started thinking about my two cultures.”

This idea started to blossom in Nikki’s mind and she continued to explain: “I started writing and sketched out the first scene before I got home. Sometimes you just need the right trigger and that was mine.”

Nikki found that despite thinking she had nailed the story, it was only later that after a few edits, that it truly started finding its way towards where she hoped it would go.

Nikki continued: “I always knew my book would have people like me in it – mixed-race and middle-class – characters whose lives include jollof rice, carjacking, and cornrows in the same breath as ubers, focaccia, and ski holidays.

“But the plot for Wahala was a long time coming. My first draft was exceptionally dull, all the wahala (trouble) came in the edits.”

Not long after the book hit the shelves, the TV executives came knocking and before long there was an auction for the rights to her debut novel and Nikki was in disbelief at what was happening.

She told The Book Insider: “I’m still pinching myself! Getting my book published was my only goal. So when Wahala went to a nine-way auction in the UK and a six-way auction in the USA, it was dream-come-true stuff.

“The TV thing was a complete shock. My agent partnered with a superstar agent in LA and in two surreal weeks during lockdown I had zooms with an Oscar-nominated actress, a Hollywood film director, and a raft of production companies.”

Nikki continued: “It was so crazy – I’d change out of dog-walking clothes and wellies, slap on a bit of lipstick and listen to amazing people tell me about their vision for my book on screen.”

In the end, the decision was made for Nikki by the quality of the producer’s TV CV, which included some of the biggest shows of recent years.

Nikki said: “I chose Firebird Productions because Liz Kilgariff, my producer, is amazing. She did Bodyguard, Luther and The Cry and really gets my story and my characters. 

“It was greenlit by the BBC before it even came out in hardback and the script is currently being adapted by BAFTA-nominated Theresa Ikoko.”

Nikki admitted that it is a project that she hasn’t had to take a leading hand in and is pleased to let those who know about TV adaptation to go for it.

The award-winning novelist continued: “Truth is, I don’t actually have much to do with it, my team is being incredibly collaborative and keeping me in the loop, but they are the experts and I trust them completely.

“Everything in publishing and TV takes forever but the current expectation is to start shooting in January 2024, so hopefully I’ll have exciting stuff to share on casting later this year. Watch this space!”

With the story being transformed into a TV show, was this on Nikki’s mind when she wrote Wahala? It would seem that the visual offering of television did help her form some of the situations in the book.

Nikki said: “I’ve worked in advertising all my life so I do tend to think of scenes quite visually. I also find I write better when I know everything about a scene – what the room looks like, where people are sitting, what the view outside the window is, et cetera, which makes the whole business much more visual, and maybe that translates to the page.

“I definitely watch way too much TV and my goal for Wahala was to write a brown version of Big Little Lies ­– so knowing it’s going to be turned into six-part BBC series is just wonderful.”

The success of Wahala has come at a time when Nigerian authors have come to the fore in the UK and Nikki has been celebrating seeing her slice of Lagos life in London being mentioned alongside some of her peers.

She told The Book Insider: “Nigerians have always punched above their weight in literary times, I think storytelling is in our DNA. I grew up reading Chinua Achebe and Wole Soyinka, and moved onto Sefi Atta and Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche.

“In some ways, their greatness made it harder to get started –  how does my little entertaining book fit in with such important tomes!

“But there is room for ALL the books – important ones and funny ones and I think it’s wonderful how many new Nigerian authors are being published. My current faves are Oyinkan Braithwaite, Ayobami Adebayo and Femi Kayode.”

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