An Illuminating Vision of Black Wealth

The 2022 series, Riches, casts a new light on the varied, complicated and even expected roles that typically surround the kind of generational wealth that many in the Black and African community often aspire to.

Written by Afoma Dike

Nov 30, 2022

Deborah Ayorinde (Nina) in Riches. Courtesy of Prime Video

On 02 December 2022, Riches, a six-part drama series produced by Abby Ajayi (How to Get Away With Murder and Inventing Anna) will premiere on Amazon Prime Video. The series follows a well-to-do Black family—the Richards—as they navigate the vagaries of estranged step siblings and corporate and familial tensions created by the unexpected demise of the family patriarch, Stephen Richards (played by Hugh Quarshie).

What is new about Riches, is the light it casts on the varied, complicated and even stereotypical roles—the investor, the pampered prince, the lady of leisure—that typically surround the kind of generational wealth that many in the Black and African community often aspire to.

Nina Richards (Deborah Ayorinde) and her brother, Simon Richards (Emmanuel Imani), have flown to the UK from the US to attend the funeral of their estranged father. Arriving, they find themselves subjected to hostility from the family their father abandoned their mother to start.

The series takes a deep dive into the many facets of African familial structures and explores themes such as successful Black entrepreneurship and Black wealth. This is especially due to the fact that, Ajayi stated in an interview with me, ‘there is a current of Black ambition and Black success that for various doesn’t necessarily penetrate into the mainstream.’

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About the Author

Afoma Dike

is a writer based in Lagos and a former Associate Editor at The Republic.

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An Illuminating Vision of Black Wealth