Just like Jola Ayeye from the ‘I Said What I Said’ podcast once said, “One thing about Nigerian women is we achieve,” and truly, Bolu Babalola continues to prove the point.
Bolu Babalola is a British-Nigerian writer with a law degree and a master’s in American Politics & History from UCL. She has carved a lane for herself as a modern-day romance authority.
She’s a self-proclaimed “Romcomoisseur”, and she writes about women who are dynamic, complicated, loud in their desires, and soft in their hearts. Women who are both “beauty and the beast”.
If you didn’t meet her through Love in Colour, the beloved collection of retold love stories, maybe it was Honey & Spice or Sweet Heat. Either way, Bolu’s universe is one where Black women flourish, fall in love, excel in their careers, build solid female friendships, chase purpose, and live audaciously.
Now, her bestselling novel Honey & Spice is officially being adapted for film, as reported by Deadline, and produced by none other than Working Title, the powerhouse behind Bridget Jones, Notting Hill, and Love Actually.
Working Title is a British film and television production company that practically built the British rom-com machine, and they want to adapt Bolu’s story into a film. She’s also going to be writing the screenplay herself.
What’s Honey & Spice Actually About?
Honey & Spice is a book that centres on university campus drama, sharp humour, delicious tension, and a romance that sneaks up on both characters and readers.
We follow Kiki Banjo, who is that girl. She’s sharp, sarcastic, deeply principled, and secretly soft. At Whitewell University, she hosts Brown Sugar, a popular student radio show dedicated to warning Black women about heartbreakers, time-wasters, and “Wastemen of Whitewell”.
Then she accidentally kisses Malakai Korede, the same guy she publicly dragged on air in front of essentially the whole campus.
To fix the mess, Kiki and Malakai enter a fake relationship (you can already feel where this is going). What starts as a PR clean-up mission slowly becomes study sessions filled with chemistry, late-night conversations, and that terrifying realisation that feelings might be involved.
It’s enemies-to-lovers. It’s fake dating. It’s “Playboy with a heart of gold.” It’s sweet, funny, thoughtful, and very Black British. No wonder readers fell in love with it.
READ ALSO: Oyinkan Braithwaite’s “Cursed Daughters” Tells of Curses and Generational Trauma
Why Hollywood, or Rather, Working Title, Wants This Story
Working Title didn’t just option the film rights; they handed Bolu Babalola the pen to write the screenplay for what will be her feature film debut. This comes after her Channel 4 pilot Big Age, which she wrote and executive-produced.
Amelia Granger, Head of Film & TV at Working Title, said something that basically sums up the industry buzz: they’re looking for storytellers who can reinvent the rom-com for a new generation, and Bolu is exactly that. Honey & Spice has characters you want to root for, fight for, laugh with, and watch fall in love on a massive cinema screen.
Why Bolu’s Romance Hits Differently
In a 2022 interview with The Cut, Bolu talked about something many romance lovers already know, which is that society often dismisses romance because it’s associated with femininity, and femininity is unfairly seen as less serious.
As she explained, romance requires emotional intelligence, intuition, and deep introspection. It deals with human connection, which is anything but frivolous. At its best, romance teaches us joy, hope, softness, and courage.
For Bolu, writing Honey & Spice wasn’t only about the love story between Kiki and Malakai. It was also about Black sisterhood, the safe spaces we build when navigating predominantly white institutions, and the way friendship shapes how we show up in love.
As she put it, “We don’t grow in isolation.” And in Honey & Spice, Kiki’s growth is mirrored not just in her romance, but in her ability to open up to her girls, who are essentially her community.
READ ALSO: If Heartbreak Had a Soundtrack, It’d Be A Broken People’s Playlist
What This Film Could Mean
If there’s one thing Black British audiences have been waiting for, it’s a rom-com that feels like their world, not just in casting, but in humour, slang, music, cultural nuance, aunties, uni life, and that specific vibe of being young and navigating your identity.
Honey & Spice has the potential to be that film. A modern British rom-com with heart, tension, cultural specificity, and a charismatic cast of characters? Yes, please.
Plus, Bolu herself adapting the script means the story’s essence… the banter, the warmth, the celebration of Black Britishness will stay intact. No watered-down, “London but somehow nobody is Black” nonsense. We’re getting the real thing.
Bolu Babalola has already given us some of the most joyful, thoughtful romance writing of the last decade. Seeing Honey & Spice make the jump from page to screen feels exciting.
If Working Title plays their cards right (and gives us the cast we deserve), Honey & Spice might just become the next iconic rom-com we quote for years.
