Letitia Wright, John Boyega to Lead Steve McQueen’s Amazon Drama ‘Small Axe’
Small Axe is a six-part anthology series starring Letitia Wright and John Boyega, and will be set within London’s West Indian community from the 1960s to the early ’80s. The series is commissioned for the BBC with Amazon streaming for the U.S.
Here's your first look at @letitiawright, Malachi Kirby, @shaunparkes1 and @RochendaSandall in the opening story of #SmallAxe, an upcoming @BBCOne drama by Oscar and BAFTA-winning filmmaker #SteveMcQueen. pic.twitter.com/40yftPSsDZ
— BBC One (@BBCOne) September 10, 2019
The series title derives from a Jamaican proverb which has resonance throughout the Caribbean, “If you are the big tree, we are the small axe”. Small Axe is also the title of a Bob Marley song from his 1973 album Catch a Fire. It means that relatively marginal or small voices of dissent can successfully challenge more powerful voices.
Steve McQueen had this to say about the project: “I felt these stories needed to be shared. I wanted to re-live, re-evaluate and investigate the journeys that my parents and the first generation of West Indians went on to deliver me here today calling myself a Black British person,”
