Rochelle Neil played Annie Carbey in the HBO/Tubi science-fiction drama The Nevers, but the show was canceled after one season. The actress has moved on to a new role, playing the lead character in the BritBox series Three Little Birds created by Lenny Henry. PopCulture.com spoke to Neil about her character being a “fighter.”
“I am not that person within my friendship group, my family dynamic,” Neil told PopCulture. “It was very empowering, a very lovely to play a woman who, she doesn’t have all the answers, but by God she’s going to try and find them and she’s going to do what it takes and she’s going to work her ass off and make the hard calls, not just for herself, but for the people around her because she cares. That I respect her so much for her humanness because she’s not the… I’ve spoken about this before. I get a bit nervous of the trope of the ever-so-strong Black woman. I think sometimes that can be quite damaging.”
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Neil plays Leah, a Jamaican woman who moves to Great Britain during the 1950s. She is joined by her sister Chantrelle (Saffon Coomber) and friend Hosanna (Yazmin Belo), and the three deal with the obstacles of racism during that time. Leah is the one who will not back down from anyone or anything, but she also has a vulnerable side.
“She’s not just this superhero that can deal with everything,” Neil explained. “She makes mistakes and she falls in love, the most pure of human experiences. It’s just lovely to see her because when you first meet Leah, I don’t know how many episodes you’ve watched, but when you first meet her she’s in a state of trauma. Then you get to see her blossom throughout the season. I think what a joy, what a gift for an actor to be able to play.”
Three Little Birds is now streaming on BritBox.
