When you've been raised in care, rap music isn't just about guns and sexism. They're talking about real things you can hang on to, problems of identity that you have sympathy with. It's not just about the music, with rap: when I was in care, it meant a whole lot more than that.

I respond very well to well-written material and women who have had an effect on society, something tragic or monumental has happened to them.

There are brothels now that are run a certain way, and women make educated choices to become part of the sex industry. Their health is taken care of, and their children can be put through school. But, sadly, there's the underbelly of that, and I think that back then women did hold a lot more power in that regard.

Coming back into television, I was very, very wary about committing to anything that could potentially take a long time. I don't mind movies, but I was nervous of television.

We're all living blinkered lives, and we're not seeing what's going on and looking to change it. I'm not saying that everyone has to make a political statement, but we need to be more aware of what's happening and why.

It's important to have masculine energy around your child.

I wanted to make a film - and I've been wanting to do this for 16 years - about life in care, and bring it to the public's attention, because I had never seen anything, on TV or in the cinema, which said: 'This is how it feels to be a kid in care'.