The Long Song

Many people see a show like this and immediately pick on small details about the times or actual history. Well this is fiction, most historical shows are because we don't what actually happened. If you want a story close to the truth watch the History Channel and as far as black and white goes watch something made in the 1950s.

I really enjoyed this mini series especially given that the Black cast spoke the Jamaican patois so well and hearing the original Jamaican folk songs added to the authenticity. Although Tamara Lawrence gave a great performance, I don't think she was the right person to play the role of July. In the book July is biracial. Tamara Lawrence is not a mixed race Black woman. Tamara Lawrence is a dark skinned Black woman with typically west African features and hair texture. As a Jamaican of mixed heritage I find this casting of Tamara problematic especially when we see that July is given an elevated status to the rest of the slaves. The casting of Tamara as July doesn't allow the audience to see colorism at play as it is more clear in the book. July is a mixed woman with typical "Eurocentric" features and for that reason she was favored by the mistress to be her house maid. History tells us that mixed race slaves were typically house slaves.

Its ok. Zip fasteners on the dresses though! A 20th century invention. Always a crass mistake.

Adapted from a fictional novel about the before, during and after the abolition of slavery.

This lengthy saga was very successfully realised in this BBC drama. You sensed the author had conglomerated several lives to raise situations and issues that would sustain a long novel.

This sense of expanse played well and there was fine acting throughout. This was great Sunday night viewing and with the entertainment we learnt a great deal about some difficult truths about sugar production.

Other critics have touched on the shortcomings of this production. I have only seen the first episode but find the series to be engaging and atmospheric. I don't think July's trickster ways were uncommon for enslaved people. She becomes a lady's maid under painful circumstances. There's an act or two that are somewhat comic. Then comes the cruelty and violence that are certainly omnipresent in the lives of the enslaved. Nevertheless, the first episode ends on an intriguing note. I am here for the rest of this program, and feel viewers of Masterpiece will not be disappointed. Historically accurate? It might fall short, but so does Downton Abbey and there are no complaints. Allow yourself to enter July's world for a spell and let's find out what she does next.