BBC Two to Air Enslaved Documentary Series

BBC Two has licensed Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, a docuseries featuring Samuel L. Jackson.

Enslaved, represented by Fremantle, sheds new light on 400 years of human trafficking, as millions of enslaved Africans were shipped to the Americas by Western European slave traders. Each episode follows separate storylines: the location and investigation of sunken slave ships and historical analysis of the transatlantic slave trade led by Jackson, author Afua Hirsch and investigative journalist Simcha Jacobovici.

Premiering in the U.S. on Epix as a six-part series, Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade has been reversioned to a four-parter for BBC Two in collaboration and with approval from the producers.

Patrick Holland, controller of BBC Two, said: “I had the privilege to meet with Samuel L Jackson, Afua Hirsch and Simcha Jacobovici at the start of their production last year and I was determined to bring their essential, hugely ambitious and important series to the BBC. These are stories that demand to be told and which sit at the very centre of our shared history.”

Jamie Lynn, executive VP, head of EMEA distribution at Fremantle, said: “With Black History Month just weeks away, it’s a real privilege to be able to announce such a pertinent partnership with the BBC and create a platform for audiences young and old across the U.K. to engage with this landmark series. British viewers will also be fascinated to see Bristol’s role in this history, as writer and broadcaster Afua Hirsch visits the now infamous, and since toppled, statue of Edward Colston. With impressive and ground-breaking production values, this is an unmissable look at a near lost history.”