Theresa Ikoko grew up in the London borough of Hackney. She got a degree in psychology and a master's degree in Criminology before running drama projects for prisoners from a huge range of social backgrounds and religions. She soon realised the system was not designed in favour of real solutions BUT - she might be able to change the world, one person at a time, through writing.

In 2015 her second full length piece of work for the stage, Girls, won the Alfred Fagon Award for best new play. She then co-wrote the ground-breaking feature film Rocks which won Best British Independent film of 2020 and was nominated for three BAFTA’s.

Currently working on an adaptation of Grime Kids by DJ Target and an adaptation of Nikki May’s debut novel Wahala for the BBC, she’s one of the UK’s hottest and most sought-after young screenwriters.

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Ajaz Khowaj Quoram Ahmed was born in the idyllic riverside town of Taplow, Buckinghamshire in 1973. 

He describes growing up there as “probably the best childhood you could imagine” – sailing around the Isle of Wight every weekend and being close to nature. 

But he also had a keen interest in technology – and started work at 15 for companies such as Ashton Tate, Ocean and the UK division of Apple.

After dropping out of business school in 1994 he started his own  innovation company - aged  just 21 and branded with his own initials – A-K-Q- A.

AKQA was born at the beginning of the dot com boom and surfed every new technology wave to become one of the world’s biggest names in digital design and communications, counting clients such as Nike, Google, Rolls Royce and Starbucks.

In 2018, as well as an MBE for services to Media, Ajaz got an honorary degree from the University of Bath – 24 years after leaving the same place to pursue his dream.

So was it all plain sailing from those early days in Taplow? Let’s find out…

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Koby Adom was born on the Ivory Coast and lived partly in Ghana. He came to London at the age of six and - like most kids his age - dreamed of becoming a footballer. Unlike most kids however, he secretly dreamed of becoming a poet or a writer.

After getting a BA in Sociology and Media Studies, he pursued his passion for storytelling at London Film School, an experience which, he says, changed his life. 

While at Film School he directed three short films- Deborah's Letter, Closure, and House Girl. Deborah's Letter (about his own family) won the Audience Favourite award at Austin, while the other two were official selections at London Short Film Festival.

After graduating from Film School in 2017, Koby made another short film – Haircut, based on a Jamaican barber in South London, a piece of work that earned him the accolade “Star of Tomorrow” by Screen Daily in 2018.

More directing jobs followed, including a mini-series about systemic racism called Unsaid Stories for ITV - and then BBCTV came calling with an adaptation of Malorie Blackman’s novel , Noughts and Crosses, starring Masali Baduza, Jack Rowan and Stormzy.

In this episode Kelly and Jeremiah discover the driving force behind Koby's decision making as he opens up about the death of his mother and the dangers he faced growing up in South London.

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