EXCLUSIVE: First look at EastEnders favourite and TV legend as guest stars in new BBC comedy
As Black Ops returns for second run about unlikely cop buddies Dom and Kay, a wealth of top names are joining the cast including an EastEnders icon many will recognise
An EastEnders favourite and a TV legend are to guest star in the second series of BBC comedy Black Ops, about a pair of hapless cops.
The first series, co-created and and starring Gbemisola Ikumelo, earned her a BAFTA award for best female performance in a comedy and pulled in 2.3million viewers on BBC1 for the launch episode.
It followed two under-qualified, undercover cops as they are thrust from being community support officers into a criminal underworld who swap their leafletting for selling heroin on an East London estate.
For the second outing she reprises her role as Dom alongside Hammed Animashaun as Kay and Akemnji Ndifornyen as gang member Tevin. This time around the characters are going undercover as they set about working for MI5.
Along the way they encounter super-suave Nigel Havers in a guest role, plus Annette Badland, best known as EastEnders’ gruff Aunt Babe, who also turns up alongside Horrible Histories’ Tom Stourton, Blue Lights’ Cathy Tyson and Outlander actor Ed Speleers.
Series two kicks off its six-part run in January and finds Dom and Kay somehow working for MI5. The BBC said: “Their jobs are decidedly unglamorous – not everyone can be James Bond, someone has to do the admin. All that changes when Dom meets a charismatic spy called Steve, played by Ed Speleers. Soon Dom and Kay find themselves embroiled in an escapade that tests their wits, their friendship, and their love of carnival, to the limits.”
Speaking earlier this year about filming the upcoming series, Gbemisola said: “Being back on set for series two is like rediscovering your favourite shoes. A little bit older and stiffer but even more fabulous! I can’t believe some of the amazing things we’ve been able to achieve with this show the second time round. Fans of series one will be right at home again with Dom and Kay’s crazy, funny shenanigans whilst old and new viewers alike will be totally invested in the stakes and real world danger they find themselves in.”
Co-creator and co-star Akemnji agreed: “Series one was so nice, of course we had to go and do it twice! Hugely excited to be going bigger, better and blacker for series two. Whatever is next for Dom, Kay – and of course Tevin – one thing is for certain – it’s going to be a wild and thrilling comedy ride.”
Last year the show won Best Comedy Programme at the Broadcast Awards 2024 and, in addition to her BAFTA, Gbemisola also won a Royal Television Society award for female performance in a comedy.