Review: The Boy with the Topknot

Well that is exactly what faced a 20-something Sathnam Sanghera who has been grappling with the revelation ever since.

His personal experience has now been laid bare in this 90-minute drama, which will air on BBC2 on Monday.

The first thing viewers from the Black Country will notice is the proliferation of local landmarks.

Sathnam was raised in Park Village, Wolverhampton, and every scene was shot either in the city or in neighbouring Birmingham, minus a couple by the River Thames.

The train station has a particularly prominent role as Sathnam – portrayed by Sacha Dhawan (Sherlock, Iron Fist) – travels back and forth between London, where he works, and Wolverhampton, where he is seeking to find answers about his father and sister.

Overtly that is the central narrative and the drama gives a fascinating insight into a Punjabi Sikh family in the 1980s and how they dealt with a serious mental illness.

Perhaps the real genius of The Boy with the Topknot, however, is how it resonates with a broader audience.

Any young adult who has over-indulged in their own life at the expense of their family will sympathise with the lead character.

Any child who has struggled to tell their parents something difficult will feel for Sathnam as he works up the courage to tell his mother about his white girlfriend.

And anybody whatsoever who has had to come to terms with devastating news will find there is plenty that really does strike a chord.

Despite the desperate subject matter there is humour whether that be laughing at Sathnam’s arrogance in earlier scenes, or laughing with him as his mother continues her bid to push a Sikh woman on him.

The film could have delved even deeper into the nature of schizophrenia and its impact on others had it not been restricted to 90 minutes. But overall this is a moving dramatisation of Sathnam’s bestselling memoir which will delight both those familiar with his story and those not.