Here’s all you nee to know about BBC One upcoming drama series Small Axe.
Small Axe is a drama anthology which comprises five original films by Academy Award, Bafta, and Golden Globe-winning filmmaker Steve McQueen (Hunger, 12 Years A Slave).
Set from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, the films each tell a different story involving London’s West Indian community, whose lives have been shaped by their own force of will despite rampant racism and discrimination.
The five films will air weekly on Sunday nights on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 9PM from 15 November.
Small Axe episodes and casts
Mangrove
Sunday 15 November
Mangrove, which opens the London Film Festival, centres on Frank Crichlow (Shaun Parkes), the owner of Notting Hill’s Caribbean restaurant Mangrove, a lively community base for locals, intellectuals and activists.
In a reign of racist terror, the local police raid Mangrove time after time, making Frank and the local community take to the streets in peaceful protest in 1970. When nine men and women, including Frank and leader of the British Black Panther Movement Altheia Jones-LeCointe (Letitia Wright) and activist Darcus Howe (Malachi Kirby) are wrongly arrested and charged with incitement to riot, a highly publicised trial ensues, leading to hard-fought win for those fighting against discrimination.
Cast: Letitia Wright (Black Panther), Shaun Parkes (Lost In Space), and Malachi Kirby (Curfew) star alongside Rochenda Sandall (Line Of Duty), Jack Lowden (The Long Song), Sam Spruell (Snow White And The Huntsmen), Gershwyn Eustache (The Gentleman), Nathaniel Martello-White (Collateral), Richie Campbell (Liar), Jumayn Hunter (Les Miserables), and Gary Beadle (Summer Of Rockets).
Mangrove was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.
Lovers Rock
Sunday 22 November
Lovers Rock tells a fictional story of young love at a Blues party in 1980. The film is an ode to the romantic reggae genre, Lovers Rock, and to the Black youth who found freedom and love in its sound in London house parties when they were unwelcome in white nightclubs.
Cast: Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn makes her screen debut opposite the Bafta’s 2020 Rising Star award recipient Micheal Ward (Top Boy). Shaniqua Okwok (Boys), Kedar Williams-Stirling (Sex Education), Ellis George (Dr Who), Alexander James-Blake (Top Boy), and Kadeem Ramsay (Blue Story) also star, as well as Francis Lovehall and Daniel Francis-Swaby who make their screen debuts.
Lovers Rock was co-written by Courttia Newland and Steve McQueen.
Education
Sunday 29 November
Education is the coming of age story of 12 year-old Kingsley (Kenyah Sandy) with a fascination for astronauts and rockets. When Kingsley is pulled to the Headmaster’s office for being disruptive in class, he discovers he’s being sent to school for those with ‘special needs’.
Distracted by working two jobs, his parents (Sharlene Whyte, Daniel Francis) are unaware of what was the unofficial segregation policy at play that is preventing many Black children from having the education they deserve – until a group of West Indian women take matters into their own hands.
Bafta-award winning Naomi Ackie (End of the F***ing World) also stars. Education was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.
Alex Wheatle
Sunday 6 December
Alex Wheatle follows the true story of award-winning writer, Alex Wheatle (Sheyi Cole), from a young boy through his early adult years.
Having spent his childhood in a mostly white institutional care home with no love or family, he finally finds not only a sense of community for the first time in Brixton, but his identity and opportunity to grow his passion for music and DJing. When he is thrown in prison during the Brixton Uprising of 1981, he confronts his past and sees a path to healing.
Cast: Sheyi Cole stars opposite Jonathan Jules.
Alex Wheatle was co-written by Alastair Siddons and Steve McQueen.
Red, White and Blue
Sunday 13 December
Red, White and Blue tells the true story of Leroy Logan, a young forensic scientist with a yearning to do more than his solitary laboratory work. When he sees his father assaulted by two policemen, he finds himself driven to revisiting a childhood ambition to become a police officer – an ambition borne from the naïve hope of wanting to change racist attitudes from within.
First, Leroy has to face the consequences of his father’s disapproval, never mind the blatant racism he finds in his new role as a despised – yet exemplary – Constable in the Metropolitan Police Force.
Cast: John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Steve Toussaint (Prince Of Persia) star with talented newcomers Tyrone Huntley, Nathan Vidal and Jaden Oshenye.
Red, White and Blue was co-written by Courttia Newland and Steve McQueen.
Small Axe airs Sunday nights at 9PM on BBC One and online via BBC iPlayer.
More on: BBC One
