First trailer for Steve McQueen’s Small Axe looks back at Mangrove march ahead of 50th anniversary
The first trailer for Steve McQueen’s mini-series Small Axe has been unveiled by the BBC.
The anthology series is made up of five films from the Academy Award-winning director, each telling a different story of London’s West Indian community from the 60s to the 80s.
The new trailer features footage from the first film, Mangrove, which focuses on the protesters who marched to police stations to protest police racism 50 years ago on August 9, 1970.
It will tell the story of the protest leaders later known as the Mangrove 9, who were charged with incitement to riot and brought to trial.
The historic trial marked the first official acknowledgement of racist behaviour within the police force.
Black Panther’s Letitia Wright stars as Altheia Jones-Le Cointe while Malachi Kirby plays Darcus Howe.
“Sunday, August 9th, is 50 years since the Mangrove March, which led to nine innocent Black women and men being arrested,” McQueen said.
“It was a march necessitated by relentless police brutality in Notting Hill.
“To commemorate the bravery of these community activists and the nine who went on to be acquitted of incitement to riot with the judge citing ‘evidence of racial hatred,’ I am sharing the trailer of Mangrove, one of five films to be released under the banner Small Axe.”
Another episode in the series will see Star Wars’ John Boyega take the role of Leroy Logan, the Metropolitan Police officer and anti-racism reformer who founded the Black Police Association Charitable Trust.
The series’ title derives from the African proverb “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe,” which later inspired the Bob Marley and the Wailers track of the same name.
Small Axe will premiere on BBC One this autumn.
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