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Historical accuracy and dramatic panache
An impressive recreation of a climactic period in black history
Small Axe: Mangrove [BBC]

Small Axe: Mangrove (first of four episodes)
BBC 1 Sundays 9pm November 21, 29 and December 6)

STEVE MCQUEEN’S five-film anthology about the vicissitudes of black British life between the 1960s and 80s, represents a momentous event in British film and television history.

It kicked off on November 15 with his film on the infamous Mangrove trial at the Old Bailey.

The Mangrove Nine were black activists put on trial in 1970 for allegedly inciting a riot at a demonstration against the police targeting of the black-owned Mangrove restaurant in Notting Hill, west London. This episode centres on Mangrove’s activist owner Frank Crichlow.

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