Name: Darcy Thomas
Company: N/A
Job Title: Creative Producer, Presenter/Reporter & Writer
Passionate about putting underrepresented young people from underserved backgrounds at the centre of the TV landscape, BAFTA winning Presenter/Producer Darcy Thomas has built an exciting reputation for delivering cutting edge projects across a broad range of genres and platforms.
With phenomenal expertise within the Black British music scene, Darcy has an extensive list of credits including BBC documentary Bass Beats and Bars: The Story of Grime to launching and producing two series of the infamous Yo! MTV Raps brand. He was later approached by MTV to series create and produce his own spin off show Yo! MTV Rates, which allowed him to open the door for even more undiscovered talent. Following this, Darcy produced both a six hour special for the iconic British platform Channel U as well as the first ever Mental Health / Music Special for C4 “The Whole Truth” which aired on World Mental Health day.
He also produced the U.K. segments for the paramount plus smash hit documentary “mixtape” which was released on the 50th anniversary of hiphop.
In 2021 he was asked to become an official partner of The Martin Luther King Initiative, promoting diversity and equal opportunities within the creative industries and acted as Senior Creative Producer on both ITV2 format Peckham’s Finest and the YouTube Black campaign.
In 2023 Darcy pitched and acted as the development producer for the multi nominated channel 4 documentary “Konan: Trapped in my trauma”.
Which saw intimate and unprecedented access to Konan’s private therapy sessions, who has only recently been diagnosed with PTSD. Leading to changes with how support is provided by people suffering from PTSD.
In the same year he won his first BAFTA for his hugely successful “Dispatches: The Truth about Nike and Adidas (C4), which focuses on greenwashing within the sneaker industry. Since winning the award Darcy has written various articles one of which focused on climate justice being intrinsically linked to colonial reparations, which was available in the Tate. He has also committed to various R&D projects to combat mental health and the climate crisis, by using recycling and sustainability as a creative tool to challenge the current systems used to fight the climate crisis.
Question 1: Who would you say is someone pivotal to your journey so far?
My family…mum and my dad.
Question 2: Who would be your ideal mentor, and why?
Dean Forbes, I believe coming from my area and achieving what he has managed to achieve within his years is amazing. He has an amazing story and his views on community and economical growth inspire me to do more for the world and for my community. He is a great business man, a great leader/ role model and I believe with his support I could make changes which benefit the next generation with more opportunities and provide support to assist with agendas which affect young people.
Question 3: What advice would you give the next Trailblazer looking to break into your field?
Do not be misled by titles, learn as many crafts as possible and master them. We are all merely vessels who are taken on a journey to find a path to help others by using our gifts. Once you find a way to be creative and contribute to humanity (by helping others), everything falls into place.
Question 4: Who would you like to spotlight as your Trailblazer?
My son… Super Nova ❤️✨