Kit de Waal’s award-winning novel about a boy in foster care becomes a wise, touching and magical drama packed with stellar talent
Child’s-eye view TV – especially the kind made for adult audiences – should be approached with caution. It’s been clear ever since Kevin started eyeing up Winnie on The Wonder Years that the cringe potential is just too great. Happily, this one-off drama for BBC Two has sidestepped all the usual quicksand traps of sentimentality and nostalgia, to tell a touching story that wise souls of all ages can appreciate.
My Name Is Leon is based on Kit de Waal’s 2016 debut novel about a nine-year-old Birmingham boy separated from his family – in particular his adored baby brother Jake – by adult decisions he barely understands. De Waal brought a wealth of personal and professional experience to her book: she grew up in the area, with a mother who fostered children, and she later worked for years in family law, even writing training manuals on fostering and adoption. It would have been understandable, then, if de Waal had opted to adapt My Name Is Leon herself.
