I don't write with this thing in the back of my head about carrying the weight of young black women on my shoulders.

There always seems to be an element of faith in my writing.

Where I grew up, in Aldgate, east London, one of the poorest boroughs in the country, I saw lots that was real - the bankers with their briefcases, the man next door with five wives, the illegal immigrants in Flat 5. I'm from a world you rarely see on screen, and I want to show it off.

I wanted to write a show about an estate that wasn't sad or morbid, like a lot of shows portray working class life to be.

It strikes me as odd that we've made journeys with our social conditioning in certain areas, but not in others. The world is always changing; discoveries in technology and science relentlessly expose our dearest values as fictions.

'Chewing Gum Dreams' should make you look twice at the girl shouting on the bus and not just cuss her off from your life.

I don't think we should be presentable or present ourselves for the sake of others.

I feel angry with myself the way I handled the Bible and Christianity. A lot more people are more normal with Christianity. I was crazy... telling people you will go to hell. I lost all my friends because of my militant faith.

If there's anyone out there that looks a bit like me, or just feels a little bit out of place just trying to get into performing, you are beautiful; embrace it. You are intelligent; embrace it. You are powerful; embrace it.

What was nice for me was that when I got to secondary school - like high school - I met many other Ghanaian schoolgirls whose parents were also born in Ghana and were raising them here. We automatically had a huge kinship that was amazing.

'Chewing Gum' is the London that I know.

When I grew up, my race was not a thing. My identity was in my class. It was not about colour on my estate.

I want to make sure I'm climbing because there's no back-up. No one in my family has a house, and, regardless of your background, if someone has a house, that means you can always come back home. When you don't have that, it's like there isn't anywhere to stand, so you have to keep jumping.

We can put fear of the future in front of us to block us, or behind us to drive us forward. I feel like telling all the people who look like me to start trying to write. You don't know it's possible because it's not often in front of you.

At college, I became friends with this girl who was a 'cool Christian.' They did street dance, then they prayed. It became my whole world. I had Christian friends. I went to Christian parties.

I don't know what it would have been like to grow up with a man in the house.

The idea of wanting to do something that's completely natural and then having to repress it is something that I find fascinating.

I've always liked using humor, but what I had to with 'Chewing Gum' was take out a lot of darkness so it would be a bit more feel-good.

It was only when I went to sixth-form college that I encountered boys.

I love Jeremy Corbyn, definitely.