Sir Lenny Henry's pride as Danny and the Human Zoo returns to its Dudley roots

Those were the words of Sir Lenny Henry as he returned to Dudley to celebrate his new drama Danny and the Human Zoo.

The Comic Relief star said he was proud to return to his roots and film the show in his hometown, and he hopes it can be the first of many new features to be based in and around the Black Country.

Sir Lenny said: "I think Dudley and the Midlands is a hugely cinematic area.

"But how rare is it see the Midlands on telly?"

The funnyman said he wants to use his company Douglas Road Productions to create more West Midlands and Black Country-based stories for TV.

"We want to make diverse television and projects....and I want to tell stories about the Midlands," Sir Lenny said.

'Danny' is packed with West Midlands-based actors, including Wednesbury's Kascion Franklin who plays the main role of Danny Fearon.

Read the review at Native Monster.

It is the newcomer's first TV feature but Sir Lenny described his performance as 'exceptional'.

Sir Lenny said he penned the 90-minute drama as a 'parallel universe version' of his own teenage years in the town in the 1970s.

It follows aspiring comedian and impressionist Danny, who achieves success on the New Faces television show as he tries to follow his dreams and avoid a career working in a factory like his dad.

While that seems to follow the star's own path, Sir Lenny was at pains to stress that while aspects of the 90-minute feature mirrored his life, it wasn't simply an autobiographical piece.

It offered Sir Lenny the chance to imagine conversations he would have liked to have had and paint a broader picture of life in an immigrant family in the decade.

Speaking to the Express & Star, he said: "This is kind of about the Henry family - but not really about us.

"I think people have to remember it's a parallel universe version of my story.

"It's important when my family members are still alive to respect that."

Sir Lenny said he is planning a more comprehensive telling of his family history in a book 'in a few years time'.

In the BBC drama, Sir Lenny plays Samson Fearon - the dad of 16-year-old Danny.

There are some touching family scenes and an insight into the racism faced by a black family in the 70s.

Sir Lenny also said it was great to be able to 'tell this story about Dudley at this time' and praised improvements to the town.

"There's been a lot of work on buildings in the town centre and it feels like Dudley is coming back up.

"The centre has had new life breathed into it and hopefully the local council don't give up on it."

The Comic Relief funnyman said he enjoyed having the 'extraordinary' opportunity to play a version of his own father - and put words in the mouth of his dad which he wished he had said during his lifetime.

"I didn't have any of those long searching cinematic conversations with my father.

"He went to work, put food on the table and clothes on our backs...and brought me up in the way he thought was the right way."

It is the first show where Sir Lenny had been given a full credit as a writer and he said he was proud of this.

Giving up creative control to a director when he had written the story he felt so strongly about was tough, according to the star.

But he was kept totally in the loop by director Destiny Ekaragha and was delighted by the final version.

"It's the first screen play where I've had a full credit as a writer.

"It's a bit like giving in homework, exciting but nervewracking.

"It's very different to stand up.

"With a movie you can't stand up in the middle of it and explain as it's going on."

Sir Lenny reserved particular praise for Kascion who plays Danny in the feature.

"Kascion is a fantastic young actor.

"When we saw him in the auditions we kept coming back to him.

"He'd never heard of Tommy Cooper or Max Bygraves but he took it upon himself to watch YouTube and do these impressions of them."

The drama was filmed in the Black Country and Birmingham with locations including the canal, Dudley Zoo, Netherton tunnel and the Thomas Dudley Foundry.

Sir Lenny said the filming of the show 'makes Dudley look like it belongs on the big screen' and praised the work of production director Simon Tindall.

"What Tindall does with this makes Dudley look like it belongs on the big screen," Sir Lenny said. "It looks great and it's really exciting."

Danny and the Human Zoo is on BBC1 on Monday, August 31 at 9pm.