Three Little Birds, the drama sequence now enjoying on BritBox, chronicles the lives of three girls from Jamaica who migrated to the U.Okay. within the Nineteen Fifties and encountered unacceptance within the nation—regardless of being British residents. The sequence, which first premiered within the U.Okay. in 2023, is the brainchild of British actor-writer Sir Lenny Henry.
With the present making its American debut, Henry, a identified British treasure, wished to faucet into what British Jamaicans confronted coping with racism within the fifties. “It is the thought of transferring from a spot of poverty, deprivation and home violence to a spot the place you could have a passport and also you would possibly get the prospect to have a greater life, make some cash, purchase a home, handle your youngsters,” he says. “There was a resistance to Black folks within the nation. As a result of we had been visibly different, there was numerous resentment. Anybody who left their mom nation to return to a brand new place will get what this story is about. That is our immigrant story.”
The racism felt within the Nineteen Fifties for Black folks on American and British shores may be generally understood. “Jamaicans got here from a colony to the mom nation as a result of we had British passports. After which, after we arrived, it was virtually as if we weren’t being welcomed. We had been seen as totally different and rejected. My mother was chased down the road by White folks saying, ‘The place is your tail? Jamaica, what a part of Africa is that?’ Folks did not learn about Jamaica. They did not know the place we had been from or what we contributed to British society.”
Chronicling historic racism, Henry says, “This present was made for everyone. All of us have this story to inform.” He primarily based his on his household.
“The inspiration was my mom’s tales. However I’ve obtained fairly an enormous household,” he declares. “My mom’s tales had been superb. There was a interval earlier than she handed away in 1988 when she shared numerous them and talked about Auntie Pearl, my sister Beth and my brothers Seymour and Hilton, and what it was like for them to return to this nation. I wished to painting what it was like for these individuals who walked these chilly streets within the Nineteen Fifties to discover a new way of life.”
Rochelle Neil performs Leah Whittaker, a girl who flees her house nation to create a greater life for herself and her youngsters. The actress had the chance to be taught in regards to the Jamaican migration by means of the sequence. “The script itself was packed. Sir Lenny, he did numerous analysis; the script was filled with a lot goodness,” she reveals. “I at all times describe this present as if we had been cooking; everybody was coming in simply including their very own flavors, spices and heritage.”
She additionally pulled from her circle of relatives. “My grandmother wrote a memoir, so I had a firsthand account of her life rising up in Jamaica, her and my granddad transferring over and coping with the nice, the dangerous and the ugly. I had a stable useful resource to begin my prep to verify I used to be in the precise mindset and the precise headspace.”
Neil was a brand new mother whereas taking pictures the sequence, so she may relate to the character she was enjoying.
“I at all times say roles come to you at a time in your life once they take advantage of sense. I wasn’t stunned that I booked a job rooted in motherhood and her mission to get her kids over to the UK and to have an incredible life for them as a result of that is the place my head was at.”
“My toddler was about seven months outdated after we began filming. As a brand new mother, I felt that primal vitality, concern, love and devotion you’re feeling, so I got here packing. Sir Lenny was so gracious and gave me numerous freedom and plenty of encouragement to essentially seize her. And although his mother impressed the character, it is so many individuals’s tales.”
Watch Three Little Birds, now enjoying on BritBox.
