Mick Ford will adapt The Boy With The Topknot, the humorous and touching memoirs of Sathnam Sanghera's childhood, growing up as a second-generation Indian in 1980’s Wolverhampton.

His book is an account of his childhood and facing up to a bunch of painful family secrets and truths in his twenties – not least that his father and sister had suffered from schizophrenia – and that he was going to defy expectations of an arranged marriage.

Joanna Vanderham (The Go-Between) will star as his girlfriend Laura, alongside Anupam Kher (Bend It Like Beckham) and Deepti Naval (Lion) who will play Sanghera’s parents.

Other members of the cast include Kiran Sonia Sawar (Murdered By My Father) and Sam Otto (Three Girls) as their younger selves, Jaz Deol (Viceroy’s House), Vineeta Rishi (Line Of Duty), Kriss Dosanjh (This Is England) and Manpreet Bambra (Wizards Vs. Aliens). 

“After reading Sathnam's memoir; The Boy With The Topknot, I was so excited to hear that BBC, Kudos and Parti Productions were adapting it. Not only is it a beautiful story, but it's also funny and immensely moving," said Sacha Dhawan, who plays Sanghera.

"I feel incredibly proud to be playing Sathnam, and look forward to telling a story, which has already touched so many people.”

Nisha Parti, Executive Producer at Parti Productions who are co-producing The Boy With The Topknot, commented, “After a long and tough journey I am so grateful of the support from Kudos and to the BBC for greenlighting this film and taking the risk in allowing me to tell this difficult, emotional and relevant story."

He continued, "I hope it will speak to many second generation Asians who grew up without access to films like this, but hope it will resonate more widely. I am so thrilled to have assembled such a talented cast with both new and exciting British Asian talent working alongside such established actors that I grew up admiring.”

Filming starts in the West Midlands in May.