Small Axe: BBC Unveils First-Look At Steve McQueen Period Drama

The BBC has unveiled the first images of Small Axe, its period drama from 12 Years A Slave director Steve McQueen. Amazon has U.S. rights.

The series, which is set in Londons West Indian community between the 1960s-80s, stars Black Panthers Letitia Wright and Star Wars John Boyega

Malachi Kirby (Roots), Shaun Parkes (Lost In Space), Rochenda Sandall (Line Of Duty), Alex Jennings (Victoria) and Jack Lowden (Mary Queen Of Scots) also star.

The show is a six-part anthology series that tells five stories set within Londons West Indian community from the late 1960s to the early 80s. The Oscar-winning writer and director has said that the series will tell the story of a West Indian community in the heart of London across three decades, beginning at the moment of Enoch Powells “Rivers of Blood” speech in 1968.

It starts in 1968, when a small restaurant called The Mangrove opens in Ladbroke Grove, a place of camaraderie and friendship that becomes a social heart for the community – and, over time, a flashpoint for resistance.

The long-gestating series will comprise six parts and tell five different stories. Its title is derived from a Jamaican proverb: “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe,” meaning that relatively marginal or small voices of dissent can successfully challenge more powerful ones.

McQueen created the series stories with Alastair Siddons and Courttia Newland. Novelist Alex Wheatle is a writing consultant. Turbine StudRead More – Source