Riches is a glamorous new six-part ITV drama centred around the exploits of the super-successful and wealthy Richards family and their multi-million-pound cosmetics empire.
Image credit: ITV
The sumptuous new production is written and created by Abby Ajayi who’s past writing credits includes the Viola Davis-led How To Get Away With Murder and Four Weddings And A Funeral (2019).
While the cast is yet to be announced, we know that the story follows Stephen Richards, a successful and smart businessman, who always gets his own way. He gets to say things like: “No one who knows anything about Black women and their commitment to looking good would think there’s anything high risk about my ambitions.”
Stephen has built his life and business empire around the fact that everything he touches turns to gold. Even abandoning his first wife and two older children, Nina and Simon, turned out well for him.
After 20 years of success, Stephen’s at the helm of his multi-million pound cosmetics empire and is reaping the rewards of his business acumen and ambitions. He’s a great advocate for Black-owned business, powerful, driven and impassioned, and with a glamourous, younger second wife, Claudia, life is never dull. Along with their adult children, Alesha, Gus and Wanda they love spending their hard-earned cash. The Richards are all about the good life and they’ve earnt it.
“No one who knows anything about Black women and their commitment to looking good would think there’s anything high risk about my ambitions.”
In New York, Nina and Simon have established themselves as business people in their own right but when Stephen suffers a stroke, the family’s world comes tumbling down. As Stephen’s life hangs in the balance, his children are about to collide with secrets and lies rising to the surface and with the empire at stake, it’s bound to be a complicated family reunion…
Speaking about her latest creation, Abby Ajayi said: “The brash, complicated and indefatigable Richards family are a joy to write and I am thrilled that this contemporary story about a Black British family and their ambitions has found a home at ITV with its enviable track record of popular dramas.”
ITV’s head of drama, Polly Hill, said: “Abby’s scripts are brilliant and will have you hooked into the story of the Richards family from the start. It’s aspirational, entertaining storytelling about power and success, but it’s also a brilliant family drama. I think it will be a compelling and addictive show to watch.”
Riches will begin filming in London and New York during the early part of 2021.
