Riches | Interview with Hugh Quarshie (Stephen Richards)

Tell us about your character

Stephen Richards is the patriarch of the family and also the founder of the family business. He’s a self-made man with very humble origins, I think – he started on London transport and worked his way up to the boardrooms of the international business community. He’s got drive, he’s got ambition, he’s got discipline and I suspect that in his past there was a ruthless streak but having made all the money, having achieved all the success, there’s a certain amount of remorse which has left him thinking – ‘what is really valuable in life?’ So he has, a bit late in the day, acquired some humanity and some compassion and is probably thinking ‘what could he have done better?’ and ‘What should he have done differently?’

What do you want audience members to understand about your character?

I think that he’s somebody who meant to do good who was conflicted. It’s difficult for people of an immigrant background sometimes to fit into the host country and if it appears that the culture is all about profit maximisation – winning at all coststhen that’s what you have to do in order to succeed. But, it comes at a cost I think. He’s in the autumn of his life, and in a reflective state of mind thinking about what matters most – is it simply the money? The success? The status? Or something else at a more fundamental level. Stephen is really contemplating how much of his own humanity did he compromise and did he lose in attaining all the success?

Does your child have a character that he expects more from?

It’s interesting. I know there’s been a kind of comparison with Succession and people assume it’s about the Murdoch family. I don’t think Riches is going to be like Succession, it’s a different kind of show but it does pick up on similar themes of the rivalry between the siblings and whether or not it’s deliberate it is perhaps one of the effects of not leaving the money to the main family is to force them to grow up, to mature, to realise that they have a shared responsibility. Whether that’s his plan or not, I think that’s going to be the effect. There’s a certain amount of remorse of course in having abandoned the children of his earlier relationship and in giving the majority shareholding to Nina- that’s going to set the cat amongst the pigeons isn’t it! So it’s going to be a test for his children, and also a test for her. Whether that means she was always his favourite, I think that’s for her to find out.

Tell us about the politics at play in the Richards family.

I think the children from the main family have enjoyed a life of real privilege and comfort and conspicuous consumption whereas the family in New York have had to work really hard for what they want, so they’ve acquired a work ethic. I’m guessing Stephen hopes that work ethic will rub off on the spoilt brats of the main family! That’s not to say he loves them any less.

Tell us about the Flair & Glory empire and its backstory.

I think just about every Black man and woman that I know understands the importance of hair and make-up to Black women. Stephen obviously recognises very early on – and I’ve got to say, my experience as an actor, working with make-up artists that aren’t familiar with shall I say textured hair, and certain complexions only underlines the importance of the need for people who make products which are suited to Black hair and Black and Brown skin. So for Stephen to have recognised that, is not simply a commercial opportunity but also if you like a sociological one. It’s something that was important to the community – Black and Brown people need to know there are products which are geared towards them.

Do you think you share any characteristics with Stephen at all?

That’s an interesting question! I like to think that he, like me, has reached a point where he’s thinking- ‘do I really care about any of that?’ ‘What matters to me?’ And he’s reached a point where he wants to pass on something of value to the next generation. And that something of value isn’t just a pay check, it’s something of understanding. Wisdom and a state of grace. Grace to me is anything or anybody that makes you feel a little less cynical about the world.

Tell us about some of the themes of Riches?

I think it is about ambition, about power, it is about resolve and family. There is that element of having adopted the growing culture of the Anglo-American world which is all about profit maximisation and that ethos has corroded our sense of solidarity, our morality. People admire success and people defer to the wealthy- the billionaires, the oligarchs. People applaud them flying up their fatuous spaceships into orbit. Instead of actually saying ‘look, do something good with your money’ you know? So I think it is perhaps, I hope that there is implicitly an exposé of that attitude. That it isn’t enough in life just to amass wealth and success and if you do there is always going to be a problem about it. Someone is always going to try and undermine you and take it from you. There are things at bottom with more lasting value – solidarity, family, and yes – love.

What will viewers take away from watching Riches?

On one level I hope that they will accept that a series about an immigrant Black family can also appeal to a mainstream audience. That there are stories to be told that can be appreciated by everybody, regardless of ethnicity. On another level, I hope that what people will take away is that the idea of greed – is corrosive if unchecked. We do need guidelines, we need if you like, old fashioned values.

Can you tell us about the importance of hair and beauty in the Black community?

When I was doing Holby City my colleague Verona Joseph and I did have an idea for producing a coffee table book about Black women and their hair. As it was so important to get the right product, to get the right style, to get people who understood it. And if they did understand it you wouldn’t have to explain, there’d be a shorthand to it.

It is a huge market. The things that you can do with textured hair in terms of braiding, in terms of straightening, in terms of styling. African women have been doing it for decades of course- the kind of hair being braided and piled up into the most intricate designs. Before Bo Derek braided her hair in Ten, African women were doing it for centuries before that. You know, before Princess Leia had those donuts on the side of her head. You could have seen that in any number of African countries.

I think it’s also changing the aesthetic, Black women don’t all have to look like Naomi Campbell. You can choose to have your hair natural; you can choose to have it braided, you can choose to have it straightened. It’s the fact that you have a choice and you can choose who you become, you can choose your identity. And I think hair and make-up are critical in that search for a settled identity.

Are there any real people you used as inspiration for your character?

I’ve got to say first of all that Stephen, the Richards family, are rooted in Nigerian culture. I am of course, a Ghanaian, and there’s been a friendly rivalry between Nigerians and Ghanaians, especially over jollof rice. The jollof wars have raged for many years now. There are people within my wider family who have gone into business and done very well and have managed to retain a certain amount of humility in spite of their success and so I was able to draw on that.

How have you seen Black beauty evolve on television in your own experience?

When I was a kid you didn’t see that many Black performers on TV. Seeing the Motown performers, I was always acutely conscious of how highly groomed and polished the Supremes were and they had elocution lessons and there was a sense in which they had to learn a kind of protocol, the elegance and the style. Similarly, the male stars of the day, it was as if they had to demonstrate they could carry off the tuxedo and the ball gown look, the elegance of Carey Grant, Sean Connery as James Bond. It’s been a liberation I think, that has in part been led by the music industry I would say. You know, Jimi Hendrix with his wild hair, coming after The Four Tops and The Temptations with their well-rehearsed routines and everyone wearing the same suit, the slick rat pack look. I think it came about the same time that there was an assertion of individuality and a kind of determination, to break off the mental shackles. To a more natural look, and a more authentic look.

And today, seeing Beyonce with blonde hair, it’s not that she’s trying to look white it’s that she’s saying I can be however I want to be. I can look however I want to look. Looking at the evolution of someone like Nina Simone when she started out and she just accepted that she was never going to look like Diana. She was told her lips were too thick, and her nose were too broad and she wasn’t going to get certain work. That fuelled an activism in her music, she wasn’t just an entertainer. We see that attitude a little bit today, you’ve got Me Too and Black Lives Matter, it does permeate the consciousness of people that make art, performance art in particular. I think there comes a determination to reflect who we are on the inside with the outside. I love James Brown and the fact he styled his hair the way he did. It wasn’t to make himself look white! It pleases me enormously that there is that boldness and that defiance in hair. Not just Black women’s hair but men’s too. Seeing all the footballers come on with bleached Mohican haircuts, I’m not sure I could get away with that! But don’t think I haven’t thought about it.

Tell us why it’s important to build a show with a Black showrunner and a Black creative?

Abby, a little bit like Shonda Rhymes brings a new energy and a new perspective to things. Bridgerton was outrageous in its imagination! Abby hasn’t gone that far but she is encouraging people, if not forcing people, to see something familiar in a new light. Then to have it crewed in the way that it is, I think it’s overdue. There’s a vibrancy, an energy about that. It’s not a morality, but it’s a sense of re-evaluation about what matters and how we are seen, and how we see ourselves. I don’t think Abby is doing it just to demonstrate, ‘look we can do it just like you people’ she’s saying ‘this is how we do it’.

Latest Interviews

News Highlights