Were you told them as a child?

How did you originally meet Neil Gaiman?

This must have been years beforeNeverwhere?

This is way beforeNeverwhere.

I first met him when we were doing aComic Relief comic.

Neil became the curator of that book and it sold over a million copies.

We became friends because of that.

We were always chatting.

And the next thing you know, hed writtenAnansi Boys!

WithAnansi Boys, he then consulted with you on the dialect and some of the West Indian details?

Hes very quick study, hes got a great ear, Neil.

You just steered him through that stuff as he was writing?

I did all the Jamaican island stuff.

Does that ring true for you too?

I think its about that.

I think its also about cleverness.

Its the idea of brains trumping brawn every single time.

And the power of storytelling?

Storytelling is key throughout.

A lot of Neils stories, if you look at Sandman,The Sandmanis a storytelling machine.

Its a way of spinning a tale in different ways and Neil is very, very good at that.

Its the idea of cultural appropriation I suppose.

If youre good, you’re free to tell a story about anything.

Nobody tells Stephen King what to do, do they?

Marlon James wrote an historical period novel calledA Brief History Of Seven Killings…

…which won the Booker.

…yeah, about the attempts on Bob Marleys life by the CIA.

And do your research.

Yeah, well that happens.

Unless you really specify.

So that problem does persist.

In the sixties and seventies I think it was probably wilful whitewashing.

Is the situation better now, in your experience?

There are certainly more books by people of colour being published now.

The majority of them seem to be cross!

There was a wilful whitewashing which is going away slowly, but publishing needs to catch up.

Going back to working on theNeverwhereseries in the nineties.

Is it right that it originated as a story about Londons homeless population?

No, it wasnt homeless people.

My idea was tribes living under London, the people who fell through the cracks.

We worked on it with him throughout the whole series.

His invention and his knowledge of other similar stories was paramount to the storys success.

Then he wrote the book and the book expanded it even more.

My thing was tribes under London, that was my pitch.

Was that your feeling, looking back at it now?

Well, weve both got problems with the show.

What we were given to make it, I think we did really well.

Maybe its time has come?

Would you consider reviving or rebooting it?

Neils doingGood Omensat the moment with Amazon and the BBC.

Why, you want to do it?

You got a GoPro?

Ill just wire you a few million and well go.

[Laughs]

There was a proposed film adaptation that didnt happen.

What was the story there?

Youll have to ask Neil about that.

But I think you saw a stage version performed?

They were slightly ragamuffins, the people who did the adaptation for stage.

The story works on stage.

Im sure there are possibilities there.

Well wed love to see that.

Im a fan of the original.

He should have beenDoctor Who.

He was going to be.

Well, he was approached about it apparently?

He was one of the people in the hat, but he didnt get it.

But now theyve got Jodie [Whittaker], which is a brilliant thing.

Are you looking forward to the Christmas special?

That wasnt the Comic Relief one, Curse of the Fatal Death, though?

No, no, no, I wasnt in that one.

Youre the black Doctor!

[Laughs] Its mental.

I was in a three-minute sketch.

You were the black Doctor!

The TARDIS played reggae music!

[laughs] so its odd.

I hope she smashes it.

Im sure she will.

I have to ask aboutBroadchurch[spoiler warning].

I was a huge fan of series three and what Chris did with it.

My family werent talking to me for weeks and weeks and weeks, it was really funny.

There was a massive collective sigh of relief breathed in Dudley at the end.

He didnt tell anybody whod done anything.

Did you do a lot of press around it at the time?

What sort of response did you have?

Yeah, it was fantastic.

Ed was sort of a normal guy with secrets and it all played out, which was great.

And really good to work with David [Tennant] and Olivia [Colman], that was wonderful.

Broadchurchalways gets such good performances from really funny comic actors too.

There was Charlie Higson, Jim Howick…

The table read was very good, very funny.

Lots of good jokes.

Roy Hudd was in it!

Roy Hudd was great.

How did it feel to go and record that with that group of actors?

So it wasnt a big deal for me.

It was great, it was a wonderful day.

We had a lovely time.

Are you aGame Of Thronesfan?

Hes a great singer.

In honour of your character Mr Nancy then, whats your karaoke choice?

I sang a big song at the beginning, because in the book, I think itsI Will Survive?

ItsI Am What I Am.

I Am What I Am!

Yeah, we couldnt clear that, so I do another song and it was fantastic.

I think it wasFly Me To The Moonand I loved it.

My daughter lovesFly Me To The Moon, so Id do that one really.

There was lots of it that was great.

There was quite a lot of it that was horrible.

It wasnt the best experience.

Did that put you off doing more work in America?

It clearly didnt put me off working because Im still here.

Would you say you have unfinished business in feature films?

Id like to be given the opportunity to show what I can do.

I guess what it’s crucial that you do if youre a movie actor is have a process.

And at the time I was a kid whod never really acted on stage or anything.

People love that film.

you could get it on eBay apparently!

Do you have fond memories of making that with Richard Curtis and Alan Cumming?

I dont know why they dont show it.

They should show iteveryChristmas!

What made it such a good experience?

Just the way it happened.

He went away and wrote fifty pages and I just thought it was brilliant.

It happened very quickly and it was very funny.

and then me laughing my head off, then Richard going aaaaaaahhhh.

That was when I met Alan Cumming, who I still know.

That was the first time Id ever worked properly with Rowan Atkinson.

Ive worked with him several times since.

To see it come out the way it did, it came out incredibly well I thought.

Would you say the same?

People came very near to losing their lives several times by inhaling shaving foam.

Is there one single moment in your head that really cements theTISWASexperience?

Its a toss between my mum walking on to live Saturday morning television or Trevor Macdonald walking on.

When my mum walked on, I literally thought what, what?

I just couldnt believe my mother was onTISWASon a Saturday morning.

Trevor Macdonald was genius too.

I know youre a huge comics fan, and youve donesome recommendationsfor BBC Radio 4 listeners.

Could you recommend our readers a couple of good ones?

Im reading Warren EllisInjection, Im just reading a lot of Warren Ellis at the moment, hes brilliant.

Theres lots of stuff to read at the moment.

Theres some great things out there if you care to look.

Its certainly not just kids stuff.

How did you first get into comics?

What were you reading as a kid or teenager?

I think tax breaks for diversity is a good thing.

Wouldnt it be great if you got a tax break because the film was properly diverse?

Theres a lot of money thats been given in tax breaks to the film industry, British tax breaks.

Lenny Henry, thank you very much!

Anansi Boys episode one airs on BBC Radio 4 on Monday the 25thof December at 11.30am.