Introducing the Black and British season on the BBC

Over the last few months I’ve been working with commissioning teams to help create the BBC’s Black and British season, launching in November. Ranging from Current Affairs to Comedy, radio debates to innovative digital content, the season celebrates the achievements and experiences of black people in the UK and explores the rich culture and history of black Britain more comprehensively than ever before.

Some may ask why the need for a Black and British season on the BBC at all, and my response would be, at a time when what it means to be British is more contested than ever: because it matters.

This landmark season will speak to those of every race, face and place with programming that is set to educate and excite, inform and infuriate in equal measure. Is the BBC dividing programming on race lines? In a word – no. Black and British is in many ways the story ofnot just the black community but an integral part of the history of the UK as a whole.



Now this may feel like somewhat of an exaggeration until you watch Black and British: A Forgotten History presented by historian David Olusoga on BBC Two, to learn about the contribution people of African origin have made to our United Kingdom. 

Drawing on new genealogical research, original records and expert testimonies, this will be, I believe, one of the most significant British history series to have ever been broadcast on national television.

Who would have thought, for example, that the remains of the first recorded black Briton were discovered over a century ago in Sussex and date as far back as c.240AD? Or that there are black families whose stories go back five generations in Liverpool? That there are many white Britons, who have discovered they have African ancestors in their bloodline? It challenges what we think we know about the history of our country – the winds of change began long before the SS Empire Windrush steamed up the Thames to the Tilbury Dock, that much is clear!

David’s series forms the centre-piece of a much broader offer spanning all the BBC channels. So why didn’t we just spread these programmes throughout the year, particularly if this is such a shared story? Of course, as commissioners and producers we are committed to making content across the whole schedule that reflects modern Britain back to modern British audiences. However, I believe that by bringing these projects together into a season, they create an energy and urgency that makes them greater than the sum of their parts.

On BBC Two, building on previous seasons like India, China, Lives of the Super Rich and the White Season, there is a wealth of programmes that speak to questions around Britishness, meritocracy and what it is to have a shared culture.

Actor David Harewood turns presenter to ask: Will Britain Ever Have a Black Prime Minister? and offers up a hard-hitting statistical analysis of getting to the pinnacle of the top professions. There's a direct correlation between what people see as accessible to them and what they choose to do with their lives. It doesn't shape what everyone does, but it’d be naive to think it doesn't play a role.



As black people, we often have to dream our way through bars that won't bend. That's our existence. Many of our endeavours were birthed and raised on faith and Life and Death the Pentecostal Way is an observational documentary which features a Brixton Pentecostal church and its community.

Black is the New Black features 40 figures from the world of politics, business, culture, religion and science who have dreamed successfully, sharing their experiences. 

Other highlights include Whites vs Blacks: How Football Changed a Nation, which tells the story of a professional football match that would never happen today and reveals a snapshot of the nation at the end of the turbulent 1970s; and Back in Time for Brixton, which reflects a huge chunk of my own history by whisking a family through the decades to reveal how post-war Caribbean immigration transformed the way we all live today.

While on BBC Four, Black Nurses: The Women Who Saved the NHS, reveals how thousands of Caribbean women, like my own grandmother, answered the call of the ‘mother country’ and were instrumental in building that most British of institutions, the National Health Service.

But our offer isn’t just driven by documentaries and history projects. Music is at the heart of the season, from classical to jazz, reggae to grime, BBC Three to Radio 3. Look out for Roots Reggae Rebellion on BBC Four, in which MC and scholar Akala explores a golden era in Jamaica’s musical history and its importance to the Caribbean diaspora here in the UK, who saw reggae music as their news service and cultural lifeline.

Radio 1Xtra is holding a series of live debates about the experience of being young black and British today. And BBC Three brings together black acting royalty, like Don Warrington (Rising Damp), with fresh talent Dane Baptiste in a brand new sitcom, Sunny D. 

The season will have a strong digital presence too, so the Black British Hero campaign will bring together talent from across the season and beyond, for a celebration of the contributions there have been, are, and will continue to be, from black Britons.

So, why a Black and British season?

Regardless of your race, face or place, it’s a season that should be of interest to all of us. But you don't need a geneticist to break down how our blood, sweat, tears, and DNA created Britain together. As I hope the season demonstrates it’s a historical fact, and nothing will ever replace, or erase that.

Black and British will be an uplifting yet poignant season that will ask tough questions and stimulate debate.

It's about truth. It's about perspective. It's about legacy. And it's about time.

Now let’s begin.

Jay Davidson is Assistant Commissioner, BBC Two and BBC Four