BBC America debuts new musical drama ‘Mood’

Breaking into the heavily saturated music industry is no small feat, and for an aspiring musician, any shortcut must at least be considered. Exploring this opportunity, BBC America premieres the East London-set musical drama series “Mood” Sunday, Nov. 6 — it also streams on AMC+.

In the series, Nicôle Lecky (“Sense8”) plays Sasha Clayton, a 20-something woman contentiously living with her parents while pop star ambitions lead her to some pretty dark corners of the social media sphere. Based on Lecky’s one-woman show “Superhoe,” which debuted at the Royal Court Theatre in 2019, “Mood” follows Sasha as she navigates the music industry via social media fame.

The series begins in the aftermath of a disastrous night out. As Sasha wakes up at home, she desperately tries to piece the night together from the evidence she has — over 40 outgoing calls to an ex, a partially eaten meal she picked up on her way home, a terror-inducing voice note and smudges of soot on her hands. The anxiety of realizing that the night before was a catastrophe is heightened by Sasha’s relationship with her immediate family members, who have all grown tired of her antics.

Her mother, Laura (Jessica Hynes, “Years and Years”), and stepfather, Kevin (Paul Kaye, “Year of the Rabbit”), no longer support her musical aspirations, and Sasha and Kevin have a particularly tense relationship — he is even roped into a physical fight between Sasha and her sister, Megan, (Mia Jenkins, “Hanna”) at one point.

Sasha soon finds herself kicked out of her parents’ house and, without anywhere to live, begins leaning on acquaintances for a place to stay. It isn’t long before she ends up in the orbit of influencer Carly Vision (Lara Peake, “Brave New World”), who, in the BBC Three (the originating network) trailer, promises that “the more followers you have, the more people will share your music” before offering her guidance.

Sasha meets Carly as she appears on social media: a party girl with lots of money — money made doing something that seems entirely attainable to Sasha. But what she quickly discovers as she becomes entwined in Carly’s life is that behind the glamorous, curated facade lies a dark reality. Carly is involved in sex work through an online app and gets Sasha to join her; something she never saw herself doing and certainly a far cry from her goal of becoming a musician.

On the podcast Reign With Josh Smith, Lecky spoke about the inspiration behind creating Sasha, a sort of messy woman many of us are familiar with. And as anyone who reads the paper, online news or true crime stories can attest, these types of transactional situations can often lead down a dangerous path.

“I haven’t seen anybody talking about that kind of genuine desperation where you might do things that go against [your] morals,” Lecky said.

In her podcast appearance, Lecky went on to draw a connection between celebrities and bigtime influencers flaunting their status on social media and their followers’ feelings about wealth. While researching for the show, Lecky met with a woman who has worked on an adult-content site in college and spent her first paycheck on a weave.

“I don’t remember being 18, and obviously I didn’t have Instagram at the time,” Lecky said of this anecdote that, while unrelatable to her, rings true for many young people today. “I don’t remember feeling like I had to be rich at 18 and have everything figured out.”

It isn’t all darkness and moral ambiguity for Sasha in “Mood,” however. Sasha’s passion for music abounds when she’s in the booth, and her talent as a singer-songwriter is clear as day any time she gets the chance to perform. Luckily for her, she even has an encouraging face on the other side of the studio glass: studio assistant Kobi (Jorden

Myrie, “Screw”), the brother of her best friend, Abi (Chantelle Alle, “We Are Lady Parts”).

Also a singer-songwriter herself, Lecky created the original songs used in “Mood,” in addition to writing and creating the series. Lecky’s music is uniquely highlighted throughout the series by surreal, imagined music videos set within the confines of Sasha’s personal experiences.

It is also important to note that “Mood” follows a tradition set by some of the best recent U.K. TV shows: one-woman show adaptations.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s “Fleabag” and Michaela Coel’s “Chewing Gum” were also inspired by original one-woman shows and written by their onscreen stars. After “Fleabag’s” success, WallerBridge went on to produce and write for the smash-hit thriller series “Killing Eve” and co-write the screenplay for the latest James Bond movie, 2021’s “No Time to Die.” Coel, meanwhile, created, wrote and starred in the highly critically acclaimed “I May Destroy You” for HBO and can be seen in the much-anticipated “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022).

Having already aired on BBC Three in the U.K., “Mood” has garnered critical acclaim and rave reviews from viewers, making it as much of a can’t-miss event as its stage-turned-screen predecessors.

Tune in to the premiere of “Mood” when it comes to North American audiences Sunday, Nov. 6, on BBC America and AMC+.

Nicôle Lecky in “Mood”