FROM TEACHER TO NETFLIX HIT MAKER
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ACCRA. From multi-coloured lace front wigs, to the licking of a bald man’s head, to catty fights, it is no surprise Netflix’s first African reality TV series was a hit with fans.
Peace Hyde, the British-Ghanaian creator behind the show, spoke to the BBC’s Cecilia Macaulay about her previous life as a teacher, struggles as a single woman working in African media and defended Young, Famous & African as an authentic and vital piece of content for the continent today.
Set in what the cast describe as the richest square mile in Africa, Young Famous & African subverts the media stereotype of the continent. Featuring private jets, shiny luxury cars and elaborate costumes, the seven-part series is opulent viewing.
Based in Sandton, Johannesburg, it features 10 wealthy African celebrities mostly from South Africa and Nigeria, but also from Uganda and Tanzania. The cast includes some household names like musicians 2Baba, previously known as 2face, and Diamond Platnumz.
But the woman who created this world of wealth and glamour for Netflix has not always known that lifestyle herself. Now dubbed an African media mogul, Peace Hyde started off her career in a different field. She used to work for a British children’s charity, looking at substance abuse.
“It was too intense. I was not emotionally able to do that,” she said, while sitting opposite me in a flowy black outfit, with shiny bone straight hair, a perfectly matte face of make-up and long nudecoloured manicured nails.
Hyde then decided to teach science to teenagers in a London school. Although she enjoyed it, she felt unfulfilled after pupils told her she was too good to stay in the classroom. She remembers the moment distinctly.
“I was teaching them digestion and I took a Big Mac burger and I put it through tights to show them,” she burst into a full, hearty laugh at the memory.
Despite being “very strict”, her pupils really liked her, she recalled.
“One of them was like: ‘You know, Miss we think you’re really cool, but don’t you think you should do more?’”
That comment hit home. She spent her working days telling her students to achieve their dreams, but she was not doing the same thing herself.
“It resonated on another level,” she said.
Hyde decided to move to Ghana, where her parents came from, and pursued a career as an actress, but soon discovered she had no talent for it whatsoever. She cringes at the prospect of having to discuss it, gasping and whispering under her breath: “Let’s not do that part.”
“It was dreadful,” she exclaimed. “I was Peace with a bad wig and bad make-up,” she joked.
She soon discovered that her true talents lay behind the cameras, and focused her energy on writing and producing content as a journalist for Forbes Africa.
Not long after, Hyde and her co-creator Martin Asare-Amankwa were in touch with big networks, including in the US. They loved the idea, but wanted to skew the show in a direction Hyde was unhappy with.
“We found that a lot of people have a pre-conceived notion of Africa,” she said, with some networks asking her to bring some “Black is King energy” to the show - referring to Beyoncé’s visual album of the same name which features elements of African culture. It came in for criticism, with some saying it was cultural appropriation, although this was denied by Beyoncé’s supporters.
Hyde looks visibly unimpressed by the “Black is King energy” memory and humorously acts out a famous booty dance popularised by the American singer.
Netflix was the network that was willing to keep the show - then just an idea in Hyde’s head - authentically African and unscripted, she said.