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British rapper, musician and actor Ashley Walters stars as the charming Michael Roberts in Ö÷²¥´óÐã One's adaptation of Small Island, adding to his television credits which include Hustle and forthcoming Ö÷²¥´óÐã drama Five Days.

Ashley was particularly attracted to a role in Small Island as it represented a big change to previous roles such as in Bullet Boy, for which he was named Best Newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards, or Ö÷²¥´óÐã Three pilot West 10 LDN, that have been set firmly in the present day.

As Ashley explains: "The fact that Small Island is 'period' is amazing for me because it's something that I've never been involved with before. Also, half my family is Jamaican and this story is essentially a story about Jamaican people, and it's portraying a part of history that I was not that familiar with myself. I haven't had a chance to talk to my own grandparents about it, so it was filling me in, in a lot of senses."

Ashley describes his character Michael as "a very well educated young man from a well-to-do family in Jamaica", but who has high hopes for himself, big aspirations that not necessarily what his family would want him to do or to be.

"It gets to the point where the road he wants to take becomes very different from the road his family expects from him – which forces a gap between them. He is forced into the army and that brings him over to the UK, where he's trying to integrate like a load of other Jamaican people. In a sense, he finds it a lot easier than the others and uses his charm to get himself through most situations."

Given its historical context, Ashley hopes the drama will give people a sense of their own history and background – particularly the younger community. "It's so important that especially young Jamaican people, and even the older Jamaican people, watch it, so they can feel represented.

"Underneath the story, the romance, there's a truth there, and this is a period of time where you'd expect a lot of black people to retreat maybe and leave, flee from the abuse or the stigma that was attached to them. But what you find is that this is a time where black people seem to be very strong and stuck through a lot of nasty situations to give me and my generation what we have today, and that's very important.

Michael Roberts is an integral character in Small Island, connecting the lives of two very different women – Hortense (Naomie Harris) and Queenie (Ruth Wilson). Ashley talks about those two central relationships between the characters, saying: "The only similarity is that he loved both of them, but in two different ways. Hortense he loved more as a sister, that sort of sibling love that you have, and Hortense finds it very hard to understand that or to see that in Michael. He does care about her a lot and he's very protective of her – but as a big brother, whereas with Queenie, I think he falls for Queenie.

"Whether he says it or not is a different thing. There's a scene in the film where basically he says to her: 'Let's run away together and be together', but because of the current climate and for them to be together in England is just...it doesn't seem possible."

The character of Michael weaves in and out of the story of Small Island, his impact felt on the lives of all the central characters, which was a challenging role but one that Ashley relished, describing it as: "Amazing! Really and truly. It's one of those roles that you really appreciate, because you're very integral to the piece but really you don't see much of me. I have a lot of powerful scenes that have an effect, and there was the chance for me to sink my teeth into something challenging because the less you're in a film, the more you have to, when you are on screen, make that impression and make it count."

One of the aspects of filming a 'period' piece for Ashley was the wardrobe, saying of his costumes: "I loved them, loved them! The RAF costumes, the flying uniforms, they were amazing, very authentic. This is my first period drama so I think other people must have had this experience, but nothing really comes together until you put on the clothes and you've got the haircut and you just look right, then everything else just falls into place."

Naomie Harris's mother, Liselle Kayla, was the voice coach for the actors, teaching them how to get the period Jamaican accent just right, and Ashley had to learn the mannerisms of the day for the role. Ashley explains: "Michael's a very well-spoken Jamaican, so the accent isn't too intense, it's understandable."

Ashley believes the appeal of Small Island will be universal, as he explains: "The strength of Small Island is the fact that it deals with heavy issues in a way that is appealing to watch, and it's a story that people can relate to no matter what colour you are.

"There's a love story there, more than that there's a love triangle – a square if you want to call it! That side of things is going to pull peoples' heart-strings. The way Small Island balances the two is a beautiful thing."