A funny guy crafts a serious immigration tale

Humor keeps rippling through Lenny Henry’s life.
He’s been a stand-up comic, a comedy actor, co-founder of Comic Relief.
But now he’s created and co-stars in “Three Little Bird” (shown here). The six-part mini-series (which starts streaming Thursday, Feb. 1, on Britbox) includes a compelling look at the tough times faced by past generations of immigrants.
Both extremes fit together, Henry said in a virtual interview. “How do you overcome trials and tribulations without a sense of humor?”
His parents acknowledged the tough times, but didn’t empathize them. “All I remember was sitting at the table with a lot of laughter and a lot of food.”
Rochelle Neil, who stars in “Three Little Birds,” has similar memories. “I think it’s a Caribbean thing …. Jamaicans will find the joy.”
She plays Leah, patterned after Henry’s mother. He researched decades of immigration, prepared a thick book of information, then wrapped it through a story like his mom’s.
Winifred Henry was a wife, mother and subsistence farmer in Jamaica. “It was beautiful there,” he said, “but there was no money.”
Fortunately, she had a British passport; in 1956, she moved to England, to make money and then send for her husband and kids. One problem: “She fell in love and had me.”
Her husband wasn’t happy about this, but it wasn’t a generation that divorced. The family reunited; there was still room for food and laughter.
Families were optimistic, Neil said. Her kin, from Jamaica and Grenada, put England on a pedestal. “My mother said they thought everyone was going to sound like the queen.”
They promptly found bleak weather, crowded conditions and bias.
Faced with a severe labor shortage after World War II, the British goverrnment had encouraged people to emigrate from the then-colonies. In 1948, a ship brought the first group of 492 Jamaican workers.
Still, Henry said, some people berated them, asking why they came. The reply: “It was you who asked us.”
Henry, now 65, became a pioneering Black comedian. In addition to his own shows and specials, he did all the classic British ones – “Doctor Who,” “Harry Potter,” “Broadchurch,” “Othello” (in theater), “Lord of the Rings” and more.
In 1985, he and writer Ron Curtis created “Comic Relief,” which has become a massive global fundraiser. Three decades later, he was knighted; now he’s Sir Lenny.
He’s written several books, but a serious mini-series was a new challenge. Russell Davies (“Doctor Who”) became his mentor.
His script includes all the joy and pain. He has a small role as a preacher on the island; Neil has a big one as Leah, patterned after Henry’s mom.
She’s the person people go to, to fix things,” Neil said. In real life, “I’m not that.”
But she sort of accidentally became like that during the filming. Off-camera, people would come to her for help. “It was me being that person – and it was exhausting.”