Steve McQueen to direct “Uprising”

(FASTNEWS | COLOMBO) – Following their success with the multiple award-nominated anthology series “Small Axe,” filmmaker Steve McQueen (“Shame,” “12 Years A Slave,” “Widows”) and The BBC are re-teaming for another exploration of Black British history with the new three-part docuseries titled “Uprising”.

McQueen and James Rogan will co-direct the series which will explore three events that took place in early 1981 – the New Cross Fire that killed 13 black teenagers, the Black People’s Day of Action in which more than 20,000 people joined the march, and the Brixton Riots.

The new series will reveal how these events intertwined in 1981 and how, in the process, race relations were defined for a generation. The work aims to draw on testimonials from the survivors, investigators, activists and more.

Said events were covered partly in the ‘Alex Wheatle’ episode of “Small Axe” with this work going much further. McQueen, Rogan, Nancy Bornat, Soleta Rogan, Tracey Scoffield, Anna Smith Tenser and David Tanner will executive produce.