Michael Obiora has long been a dynamic force in the entertainment industry, with standout roles in Hotel Babylon, Luther, and Fortitude. Now, as 2025 approaches, his versatility is on full display with three upcoming projects that reflect the depth and breadth of his creativity: the highly anticipated ITV drama Out There, his heartwarming children’s book Zee Zee The Humble Bee, and his poignant short film Joe Kerr: Laughter is Therapy.
These works showcase different facets of Obiora’s talent—acting, writing, and directing—while delving into universal themes of identity, resilience, and the human condition. “I’m a storyteller at heart,” he told me when we spoke in the run-up to Christmas 2022, “Whether it’s through acting, writing, or directing, I’m constantly asking questions about people, their choices, and the worlds they inhabit.”
Michael Obiora: Juggling Art and Ambition
To call Michael Obiora busy is quite an understatement. With a new book coming out, not one, but three video shorts set for release in 2025, and a leading part in a major new TV drama with Martin Clunes, it’s a lot!
“I’m dealing with it all by compartmentalizing,” he says, “that and being grateful when so many don’t have work. Yes, I’m tired, but it’s the tiredness that comes from being really busy versus wondering where the next job is coming from. There’s no comparison between the two!”
“It’s definitely more stressful steering your own projects,” he emphasises, “The responsibility for seeing it through is on you, and every single job starts and ends with me. I go through periods of regret every single time. I ask, ‘Why am I doing this? Is it worth it?’ – honestly, I don’t know if I’ve ever come to a conclusion.”
It’s a question that Michael continues to ponder nevertheless…
“Honestly, I don’t enjoy the creative process – I enjoy the result. I know now that I am a results-based person. Being aware of that has made my life easier. Some days are easier than others, and I do enjoy working on other people’s projects more than directing my own. However, making my own work has certainly given me so much empathy for whoever is at the helm!”
Diving into ‘Out There’: Michael’s New On-Screen Adventure
Michael’s career has been a success by anyone’s standards, and ‘Out There’ certainly isn’t his first time in front of prime-time national audiences. So is there any inspiration left to find? The answer, it turns out, is yes…
“I can honestly say that inspiration is the right word to use.” he enthuses, “I’ve been in a 30-year relationship with this industry, and honestly, I haven’t loved every moment. People change, we grow in different directions and things that brought us joy once, don’t anymore. This is the first thing I’ve done in years with others that I’ve been able to get my teeth into. It has reminded me of the wonderful work others are making, and that is out there in the world.”
So how would Michael describe the show?…
“I would describe the show as the UK version of Breaking Bad meets Ozark – particularly Ozark. It’s set in Wales and has an incredible cast – I think Martin Clunes has never been better. My character Scott is ex-Army. He’s a highly intelligent, articulate, and enigmatic individual. There’s charisma to him, a charm… but also a sense of danger and mistrust. He’s quite evasive when questioned about himself and/or his reasons for being there. Something is just not sitting entirely right in those initial scenes. When we first meet him, he claims to be a land property agent, but what does that mean, and why does he smile so much?”
“Whether it’s through acting, writing, or directing, I’m constantly asking questions about people, their choices, and the worlds they inhabit.”
For Michael, his time in Scott’s clothing spoke to events close to home…
“He actually mirrors someone my family and I were dealing with when I got involved with the making of the show. When I began playing the character, my stress over the situation started to dissipate. I began to understand other people in desperate situations—they aren’t always themselves! I could do the same things in their position or at the end of whatever journey they’ve been on.”
For Michael, his life and his art are inextricably linked…
“Sometimes you can’t care or don’t have the bandwidth left when dealing with confrontations, but as an actor, there’s an empathy you can learn from embodying others.”
‘Zee Zee The Humble Bee’: A Love Letter to Childhood
Then there’s his debut children’s book, ‘Zee Zee The Humble Bee’, drawing on a lifetime in the arts, man and boy.
“Creating this book has been the least lonely I’ve ever felt during a creative process. I personally find writing to be very solitary and being collaborative is something I’m very open to. Don’t get me wrong, writing alone is the way I’ve wanted it to be – but with this one, it felt like a selfish selfless act – selfless as a love letter to my daughter and selfish in being for myself.”
You could call the books decades in the making – because Michael Obiora’s inspiration for the book stems from his own classroom days…
“I’ve drawn upon something that’s been with me since I was 11 – when I was walking down the corridor of my secondary school. My Head of Year was walking towards me. When our eyes met, she said to me, “Michael, why are you smiling? The cameras aren’t rolling now.” She was referring to the fact that I was now an established child star having already been in Grange Hill for two years. I still remember exactly how I felt when she said this to me. Her comment devastated me. I couldn’t understand how a grown-up could say something so mean to a happy child. Now I am a parent, I’m mindful of encouraging all children to follow their dreams and never to dim their light to let others shine. Our childhood years are our formative years. Let children fly. You can lovingly teach humility.”
“I will never forget” he continues, “I was just being happy in myself, only for someone to ask ‘Who you think you are?’
I was a happy boy; this was the first time I realised that people get angry at others’ success. It ruined my trust in adults thereafter. Before then, I never got into fights, but after? I was always fighting – I didn’t allow people to complete their sentences before laying into them. I became furious, and it lasted into my 30s – I often felt very lonely, wondering whether everyone was jealous. I would ask, ‘Am I being too big for my boots?’
I even considered not doing this (being an actor/creator) just to avoid people seeing me as arrogant. I wished I had someone to talk to who understood how I felt. When I talked to others around me who weren’t necessarily in the industry, they didn’t see it as a big deal.”
All of which led to a question in Michael’s mind…
“So I found myself asking ‘What would I tell a younger version of me?’ What would I tell my daughter?
I don’t want her to have her trust in the world burst the way mine did. I remember things from my childhood far better than I remember what happened to me yesterday. What happens during our childhoods, our formative years—it IS a big deal. I’m lucky I know how to express myself, but others aren’t as fortunate.
When you dig down into it, you’d be surprised where anger comes from – the most innocuous places really.”
From Experience to Expression: Michael’s Artistic Authenticity
It’s clear that Michael as both performer and creator, is a human principally concerned with being true to himself…
“Being true to yourself is a difficult thing.” he explains, “For some, the old ‘I’m only being honest’ defence can be a crutch, but there’s a deeper truth to find. I’m always questioning my identity, mine and others – I had a full-blown existential crisis in my 20s! Since then, I’m always asking about my own character and those I’m playing – there’s a bipolarity to being a performer and creator.
But I do know when something doesn’t feel right, whether that’s in relationships or within myself. I know now that sometimes when I feel tired or not in the mood, it’s okay to say no and leave it there. You don’t have to turn everything into a performance—not everything has to be transactional.”
Laughter as Therapy: Michael Obiora’s Short Films
As if prime-time television and a new book aren’t enough, there are his upcoming short films specifically ‘Joe Kerr: Laughter is Therapy’, set for release on YouTube on January 27th, 2025: he wrote, directed, and stars in it…
“It’s the first of three shorts I’ve written and directed that will be released this year, based around themes of loneliness and identity. I’ve actually written five, so there are two more to shoot in the year ahead. These three work well together, but it all began because I just started writing one day.
You know, over these last five years, we’ve all experienced such a seismic shift—I don’t have to say more, and we both know what I’m talking about.”
Michael certainly isn’t wrong about that…but as many discovered, that particular national catastrophe produced a particularly complex set of emotions…
“I’ve never been more scared, more worried, or more creative. Telling stories – that was my therapy – disappearing into creativity. With Joe, I deliberately set out to write something funny. At the end of the day, I’ve noticed that the things I tend to write are dark and sad. It’s a definite pattern I see in my work. I said to myself, let’s try to write something fun! So, I wrote about a stand-up – albeit one suffering the most recent bereavement. I guess I couldn’t escape some trauma, but it’s all set around a stand-up routine – and it came from real life.”
Indeed Michael’s art was imitating life, specifically his own…
“However, I had written it and was watching it back before realising it had happened to me. I was 16, playing the lead in a play at the Royal Court, and my dad died in the run-up to the play’s opening. He died late into the night, and as soon as it was business hours I phoned up Ian Rickson (then Artistic Director of the Royal Court), to say I’d just lost my dad.”
However, if the Director thought Michael was looking for sympathy, he quickly discovered otherwise…
“He interrupted me, saying, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll cancel your show.’ I flipped! I was only calling to say I might be a bit off that night—not for the show to be cancelled or even for consolation. I was just paying some professional courtesy. I was adamant, saying, ‘Don’t you dare take this away from me!’
I went on stage, had the time of my life, and after the curtain call burst into tears. It was a truly amazing night in so many respects.”
Years later, Michael ponders how we would have reacted in Ian Rickson’s position…
“If I watched someone else go through the same thing, I’d probably think, ‘Why are you on stage? Why are they letting you on stage?!’ But you couldn’t have stopped me – I was unstoppable. It was my therapy even then. I guess it’s a type of pathology, but it’s also part of my story.
It seems I’ve ended up sharing this through a character who’s not me – doesn’t sound like me, doesn’t think like me. Why though? I’m not shy! Revealing myself is not an issue for me. But maybe doing it this way offers me other possibilities – or maybe it just makes for more interesting viewing.”
Life in the Arts Lane
“I don’t take the performing arts for granted, ” he states, pointing to the conversations in green rooms and canteens that wouldn’t happen anywhere else.
“Camera setups can take a long time, and maybe you stay in character between scenes – maybe you don’t – but you do end up having deep, deep conversations with people you have literally just met days or even hours ago. At the end of just 3 months together, you’ve been in a deep relationship with these people!”
“I’m mindful of encouraging all children to follow their dreams and never to dim their light to let others shine.”
Anyone who’s spent any time around the performing arts will recognise what Michael’s talking about…
“I love it, and as I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun to understand it more and see there’s a time and place for all of it! I don’t feel I fit into many spaces outside of being creative—my safest space is being in creative circles. It can even feel raceless or even genderless sometimes, and I don’t know that’s as possible anywhere else—perhaps with the exception of some sports.”
Michael Obiora’s Creative Horizon: Plans for 2025
It’s safe to say, Michael Obiora is in for a busy 2025…
“I’m just accepting being tired! I’m a very fit, very active person. I normally just push my tiredness to the side and treat everything like athletics! I just want to slow down a little over the festive period – try to be a little more present for everything and everyone else in my life.”
But having a lot on his plate for the year ahead is just what keeps Michael alive…
“I love knowing I’m starting the year with work to do and work coming out. I have two further shorts to film in the next few months, I have a book of poetry to work on, as well as a desire to get started on a new children’s book – and I’m also going to begin adapting my second novel, ‘Vivian’s Couch’ for TV!”
So, from Prime Time TV, to your local Bookshop, and your next trip to Youtube, you’ll never be that far from Michael Obiora – in one shape or another, in the year ahead. As one of the more interesting, charming, and thoughtful people it’s been my privilege to interview over the years, I’m looking forward to bumping into him!
Featured Image credit: Amanda Searle
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