Get Ready for the Black British Dallas on ITV

There’s good news for those who loved the high camp and sexy-as-hell rivalry between Dynasty’s Alexis Colby and Krystle Carrington, or JR and Sue Ellen’s shenanigans in Dallas.Because while Riches, ‘s delicious new drama about a mega-rich and dysfunctional family, has been dubbed a black British version of multi-award-winning — it is in fact those glitzy 80s soaps from which writer Abby Ajayi took her inspiration.

‘I loved them,’ she confesses.‘I couldn’t get enough of those powerful matriarchs with the shoulder pads, the great hair, the slapping and the rivalry. Even though I was a black girl growing up in , I could relate to them.

‘I think anyone growing up in an African household has seen the dynamics — the powerful matriarch in a society that also has the thread of patriarchy running through it -and I’ve always wondered what it would be like to put those stories I watched as a child into a British setting.Riches is aspirational, glitzy, glossy, but it’s grounded in emotions everyone can relate to.’

The six-part series drops on ITVX later this month, and it’s so much fun you’ll want to binge the lot straight away. Great hair is a given — it’s set in the lucrative world of cosmetics after all — and there are shoulder pads and rivalry galore.Whether there’s any actual slapping you’ll have to wait and see, but it’s there metaphorically from the moment the two key characters, Claudia Richards and her stepdaughter Nina, meet for the first time in years.

Cosmetics tycoon Stephen Richards, a Nigerian immigrant played by Holby City favourite Hugh Quarshie, is at the top of his game, having built his brand catering to black Britons into an empire worth millions. But his marriage to second wife Claudia is unhappy, his heir, Gus, is only interested in spending Daddy’s money, and he’s estranged from his children from his first marriage, Nina and Simon, who live in America.And then he dies, leaving an extraordinary mess of a will.

Nina, played with aplomb by Deborah Ayorinde (best known for the Prime Video series Them), returns to England for her father’s funeral and discovers he has left her rather more than she expected.Meanwhile Claudia, played equally brilliantly by Sarah Niles (Emmy-nominated recently for her part in hit comedy Ted Lasso), is furious to find she and her children Gus, Alesha and Wanda have been completely sidelined. She and Nina quickly go to war — and the fun is in watching battle commence.

‘I initially loved the role because of how much Nina’s story mirrors mine,’ says Deborah. ‘I was also born in London but moved to America. I’ve experienced many of the things she does, so I feel I understand her.

I said to Abby, «Have you been reading my diary? It’s like you’re telling my life to the world!» Like Nina, when I was in America I never felt completely at home, so I used my own accent, half-American and half-English, for Nina because our stories are so similar.

On the surface she’s a sexy, badass, successful boss of a woman, a real force to be reckoned with. But underneath she’s trying to figure out her place in the world. Only her brother knows she doesn’t really have it all together.’

Then there’s Claudia, a working-class woman who seduced Stephen. She’s desperately ambitious for their children, and she isn’t afraid to fight dirty.

‘I love playing this woman who’s sexy, strong and vibrant,’ says Sarah.‘Claudia has worked her way up to the top, not easy as a black woman in England, and she wants to keep what she’s got. She’s used to fighting for what she wants and she’ll do anything for her family.’

The series also features supermodel Jourdan Dunn in her first major acting role, playing a mysterious character called Davina Chase, whose arrival makes a bad situation even worse.

The story is unusual in that it shows a mega-wealthy black British family like we’ve never seen on TV before.

‘It’s a celebration of the London, the England, I know,’ says Abby, who started writing on EastEnders, then cut her teeth on Netflix’s Inventing Anna. ‘The Britain I know is one where the immigrant ambition can be huge and complicated, especially for women who are often complex, incredibly capable and juggling all sorts of messes.

I’ve longed to see black Brits depicted in a different way on screen. I grew up loving those big family dramas about money and blood mixing in a very combustible way, and it’s been such a joy to combine both of those things in Riches.’

All six episodes of Riches will be on ITVX from 22 December.