Adapted by Sarah Williams and directed by Mahalia Belo, it has been. Levy has turned her gaze away from British shores and set The Long Song in early 19th-century Jamaica, on a sugar-cane plantation, in the turbulent years before and just after the. “So we need to watch these things and be informed going forward, so it’s a wonderful work and I’m very proud to be involved. The Long Song (3圆0) was commissioned by Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama, and Charlotte Moore, Director of BBC Content. So we need to look at the past, so that we can think about what happens going forward. “If you don’t know what happened, you don’t know what’s going to happen.

Sir Lenny Henry, who plays slave Godfrey, explained why this story was so important, saying: “We’re in a place where racism is on the agenda, Black Lives Matter, and this idea of knowing your history. So our job was just to get that across,” Williams said. Both books explore the relationship among the Caribbean, Jamaica, and Britain. “The book is a mixture of heartbreaking and humorous and both are stronger for being next to each other, I think. In Small Island, Andrea Levy told the story of Jamaicans in London just after World War II in the The Long Song, she goes further back, to the nineteenth century. The miniseries was seven years in development and writer Williams said that her goal while adapting the book was to be “invisible” and let Levy’s work speak for itself. The show also explores July and her relationship with her odious mistress Caroline Mortimer (Hayley Atwell), along with the rivalry between the two women after the arrival of the dashing new overseer Robert Goodman (Jack Lowden).

Set in 19th Century Jamaica as slavery was coming to an end on the island, The Long Song follows July (played by Tamara Lawrence) and her journey to freedom.

The Long Song by Andrea Levy