Small Island (television drama)
Encyclopedia
Small Island is a two-part 2009 BBC One
television drama adapted from the 2004 novel of the same title
by Andrea Levy. The programme stars Naomie Harris
and Ruth Wilson
as joint respective female protagonists Hortense Roberts and Queenie Bligh, two women who struggle to fulfil their personal ambitions and dreams amidst the chaos of World War II
London
and Jamaica
. Additional cast members include David Oyelowo
as Hortense's husband Gilbert Joseph, Benedict Cumberbatch
as Queenie's husband Bernard Bligh and Ashley Walters as young RAF Pilot Michael Roberts who becomes entangled in both the women's lives.
The serial was developed by producers Joanna Anderson and Vicky Licorish of AL Films. The script was first written by Sarah Williams and later amended by Paula Milne
. It was directed by John Alexander
, who also directed the BBC's 2008 adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
. The serial consists of two 90-minute episodes that premiered on 6 December 2009, and was shown in the United States
on PBS as part of the channel's Masterpiece Classic Collection beginning 18 April 2010.
n immigrants during and after World War II
. Trying to escape economic hardship on their own "small island," they have moved to England
, the Mother Country, for which the men have fought during war. Their reception is not quite the warm embrace that they have hoped for.
The beginning or prologue of the story focuses on the young Jamaican girl Hortense, who has two dreams: to marry her childhood companion Michael, and to move to faraway England and become a teacher. The story then shifts to London, where we meet Queenie and Bernard. Queenie is a poor working-class girl from Yorkshire who longs for better things in her life than her family's pig farming business. An aunt in London takes Queenie in and employs her in a shop. When her aunt dies suddenly, Queenie marries the well-to-do Bernard Bligh, in order to avoid having to move back to the pig farm. World War II then uproots all of their lives: Michael, in disgrace after being caught in an adulterous relationship, leaves Jamaica to join the Royal Airforce. Bernard impulsively signs up to join the army, leaving Queenie to look after his mentally incapacitated father, who is shell-shocked after fighting in World War I.
During the war, Queenie lets the house to soldiers who need temporary quarters. One night, three airmen come, including a black Jamaican man, Michael. The two share a night together, after which Michael and the other airmen leave for their next mission. Meanwhile in Jamaica, Hortense, sad about Michael's departure, thinks she has seen him in the city and rushes over to greet him. The man she greets is in fact Gilbert Joseph, a man who slightly resembles Michael. The story follows Gilbert's own experiences in the war. He enlists in the RAF and while stationed in Yorkshire, meets Queenie, who also initially mistakes him for Michael. They become platonic friends. Their friendship angers some American soldiers, however, who attack Gilbert. In the resulting fight, several other soldiers get involved and shots are fired. Queenie's father-in-law is killed by a stray bullet.
After the war, Gilbert returns to Jamaica, where he has a hard time adjusting to life and the lack of opportunities. He wants to go back to England, where he hopes to find work. However, he does not have the fare for the ship's passage. He runs into Hortense again, since he is dating her friend Celia. Hortense hears of Gilbert's plans to go to England. Jealous of the fact that her friend Celia will get to go to England, Hortense blurts out that Celia has a mentally ill mother, who she plans to leave in a care home. Gilbert is disgusted that Celia would do this, and it is implied that he and Celia break up. Desperate to get to England, she offers Gilbert the money for the fare, on condition that he marry her and send for her when he has found work and a place to live. They lodge with Queenie Bligh, who has had to fend for herself after Bernard did not return following the war. Both women have married in unpromising circumstances, as love is a luxury neither can afford. Hortense remembers her life in Jamaica and the profound love she had for Michael. Queenie also remembers her love for and her night of passion with the same Michael. The two young women do not know they share a secret.
Hortense tries to begin her new life in England by looking for work as a teacher, her dream job. She soon learns England is not the golden land she hoped it would be, and that Jamaicans and blacks are despised and discriminated against. She and Gilbert suffer racism and ignorance, but in adversity they discover new qualities in each other and actually begin to fall in love. Queenie is shocked when her husband Bernard returns to her after years away. When she goes into labour and has a dark-skinned baby by a mysterious father, the lives of all of them—the Blighs and the Jamaicans—are changed forever.
Born out of wedlock in an illegitimate, but not loveless, liaison between her affluent Jamaican father and an illiterate farm girl, Hortense is brought up by her father’s cousin as playmate to his son, Michael. After Michael’s return from boarding school, Hortense realises her feelings for him are more than just fraternal.
A naturally proud and headstrong woman, Hortense has always kept her true parentage a secret. She also has a strong sense of her own destiny: to live in England with Michael and be a teacher there. When Michael is sent away to the war, Hortense instinctively fights to keep her dream alive and proposes to Gilbert, a man she hardly knows, but someone who will aid her passage to England. She arrives in a country which both surprises and disappoints her in its bleak and unfriendly ‘greyness’, but it is through this new life that she discovers a different side to her character and, for the first time, the meaning of true love.
Pretty Queenie is a tough survivor, with a good heart. Brought up on a pig farm in Yorkshire, from an early age she grows to hate the smell of the pigs, the squalor and the blood. With dreams of escape, she finally gets her wish when her kindly Aunt sends the train fare to London. Queenie is open-minded and hungry for new experiences. Full of youth and vitality, she goes to London with hope in her heart. Despite trying to better herself with elocution lessons, she can never quite shake her Yorkshire vowels.
When an unexpected death forces her into the arms of the educated but rather uninspiring Bernard, Queenie believes that her dreams are lost to her forever. But the war brings Queenie new experiences when Bernard is sent to the front line, and she embarks upon a dangerous but ultimately awakening affair.
Gilbert appears the charming fool, but underneath he is a principled and naturally idealistic man who signs up to fight the war in England—not only with hopes of bettering himself, but also because he knows the world will be a darker place if Hitler is not defeated.
He has come from a poor but happy family in Jamaica and has tried to make his way despite being plagued by bad luck. His disappointments in England do not diminish him, and he relishes the newly opened-up world. On returning to Jamaica, he realises quite how small his island is. Unable to afford the fare for the Empire Windrush, he accepts the offer from the proud and uppity Hortense to pay for his passage in exchange for marriage. He knows he is being bought and is aware that he's cheap at the price. His marriage to Hortense may be one of convenience, but over time she begins to see the noble, kind and wise man that Gilbert is, which allows him to grow into the person he was destined to become.
Bernard Bligh is a middle-ranking bank clerk in his late twenties. He’s lived alone with his father in a large house in London ever since his mother died. His father suffers from shellshock after serving in the Great War and, as a result, never speaks.
Into this quiet and stable life breezes the lovely Queenie, who works at the shop where he buys The Times every day. She awakens in him feelings that he didn’t know he had, and after several outings he plucks up the courage to kiss her. After their marriage, Bernard soon reverts to his repressed and buttoned-down state, unable to open up and become the man and husband Queenie needs. Like many he suffers psychologically in the war, so much so that he cannot even recognise himself. Deep down, he knows he’ll never be enough for Queenie, but he can’t stop loving her.
Michael is the son of the strict and god-fearing Mr Philip. Beguiling and non-conformist, with a streak of luck that runs through his life, Michael is brought up alongside Hortense—his rebellious streak always leading her into mischief. Hortense adores him, but he can only see her as a younger sister and is oblivious to her feelings. Returning from boarding school as an independent, handsome man, Michael soon begins a scandalous affair with a local teacher before joining the British Army.
When he finds Queenie in England, he feels an immediate connection to her, but Michael’s selfish nature means he can never be tied down.
BBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
television drama adapted from the 2004 novel of the same title
Small Island
Small Island is a 2004 prize-winning novel by British author Andrea Levy. It was adapted for television in two episodes by the BBC in 2009....
by Andrea Levy. The programme stars Naomie Harris
Naomie Harris
Naomie Melanie Harris is an English screen actress. She is best known for her starring role as Selena in 28 Days Later, as well as her supporting turn as Tia Dalma/Calypso in the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films...
and Ruth Wilson
Ruth Wilson (actress)
Ruth Wilson is an English actress, perhaps best known for her performance in the title role of Jane Eyre.-Early life and education:...
as joint respective female protagonists Hortense Roberts and Queenie Bligh, two women who struggle to fulfil their personal ambitions and dreams amidst the chaos of World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. Additional cast members include David Oyelowo
David Oyelowo
- Background :Oyelowo was born in Oxford, England of Nigerian descent. He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo and they have three sons.Oyelowo first attended a youth theatre after being invited by a girl to whom he was attracted. He then studied Theatre Studies for A level and his teacher...
as Hortense's husband Gilbert Joseph, Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Cumberbatch
Benedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch is an English film, television, and theatre actor. His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking ; William Pitt in the historical film Amazing Grace ; the protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy ; Paul...
as Queenie's husband Bernard Bligh and Ashley Walters as young RAF Pilot Michael Roberts who becomes entangled in both the women's lives.
The serial was developed by producers Joanna Anderson and Vicky Licorish of AL Films. The script was first written by Sarah Williams and later amended by Paula Milne
Paula Milne
Paula Milne is a multi-award–winning British screenwriter who has been active since the 1970s. Her notable works include The Politician’s Wife, The Virgin Queen, Chandler & Co, Die Kinder, Second Sight, Driving Ambition, Small Island and Endgame.She also devised the BBC medical drama Angels.Further...
. It was directed by John Alexander
John Alexander
-Arts and entertainment:* John Alexander , American stage and film actor* John Alexander II , Scottish film actor; see * John Alexander , British television director* John Alexander -Arts and entertainment:* John Alexander (actor) (1897–1982), American stage and film actor* John Alexander II...
, who also directed the BBC's 2008 adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility
Sense and Sensibility (2008 TV serial)
Sense and Sensibility is a 2008 British television serial adapted by the BBC from Jane Austen's novel of the same name. It was written by Andrew Davies and directed by John Alexander. The serial was aired on BBC One in three parts on 1, 6 and 13 January 2008. It aired the United States in two...
. The serial consists of two 90-minute episodes that premiered on 6 December 2009, and was shown in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on PBS as part of the channel's Masterpiece Classic Collection beginning 18 April 2010.
Plot
The story is based on four main characters: Hortense, Queenie, Gilbert, and Bernard. It focuses on the diaspora of JamaicaJamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n immigrants during and after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Trying to escape economic hardship on their own "small island," they have moved to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, the Mother Country, for which the men have fought during war. Their reception is not quite the warm embrace that they have hoped for.
The beginning or prologue of the story focuses on the young Jamaican girl Hortense, who has two dreams: to marry her childhood companion Michael, and to move to faraway England and become a teacher. The story then shifts to London, where we meet Queenie and Bernard. Queenie is a poor working-class girl from Yorkshire who longs for better things in her life than her family's pig farming business. An aunt in London takes Queenie in and employs her in a shop. When her aunt dies suddenly, Queenie marries the well-to-do Bernard Bligh, in order to avoid having to move back to the pig farm. World War II then uproots all of their lives: Michael, in disgrace after being caught in an adulterous relationship, leaves Jamaica to join the Royal Airforce. Bernard impulsively signs up to join the army, leaving Queenie to look after his mentally incapacitated father, who is shell-shocked after fighting in World War I.
During the war, Queenie lets the house to soldiers who need temporary quarters. One night, three airmen come, including a black Jamaican man, Michael. The two share a night together, after which Michael and the other airmen leave for their next mission. Meanwhile in Jamaica, Hortense, sad about Michael's departure, thinks she has seen him in the city and rushes over to greet him. The man she greets is in fact Gilbert Joseph, a man who slightly resembles Michael. The story follows Gilbert's own experiences in the war. He enlists in the RAF and while stationed in Yorkshire, meets Queenie, who also initially mistakes him for Michael. They become platonic friends. Their friendship angers some American soldiers, however, who attack Gilbert. In the resulting fight, several other soldiers get involved and shots are fired. Queenie's father-in-law is killed by a stray bullet.
After the war, Gilbert returns to Jamaica, where he has a hard time adjusting to life and the lack of opportunities. He wants to go back to England, where he hopes to find work. However, he does not have the fare for the ship's passage. He runs into Hortense again, since he is dating her friend Celia. Hortense hears of Gilbert's plans to go to England. Jealous of the fact that her friend Celia will get to go to England, Hortense blurts out that Celia has a mentally ill mother, who she plans to leave in a care home. Gilbert is disgusted that Celia would do this, and it is implied that he and Celia break up. Desperate to get to England, she offers Gilbert the money for the fare, on condition that he marry her and send for her when he has found work and a place to live. They lodge with Queenie Bligh, who has had to fend for herself after Bernard did not return following the war. Both women have married in unpromising circumstances, as love is a luxury neither can afford. Hortense remembers her life in Jamaica and the profound love she had for Michael. Queenie also remembers her love for and her night of passion with the same Michael. The two young women do not know they share a secret.
Hortense tries to begin her new life in England by looking for work as a teacher, her dream job. She soon learns England is not the golden land she hoped it would be, and that Jamaicans and blacks are despised and discriminated against. She and Gilbert suffer racism and ignorance, but in adversity they discover new qualities in each other and actually begin to fall in love. Queenie is shocked when her husband Bernard returns to her after years away. When she goes into labour and has a dark-skinned baby by a mysterious father, the lives of all of them—the Blighs and the Jamaicans—are changed forever.
Principal cast and characters
- Naomie HarrisNaomie HarrisNaomie Melanie Harris is an English screen actress. She is best known for her starring role as Selena in 28 Days Later, as well as her supporting turn as Tia Dalma/Calypso in the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean films...
as Hortense Roberts
Born out of wedlock in an illegitimate, but not loveless, liaison between her affluent Jamaican father and an illiterate farm girl, Hortense is brought up by her father’s cousin as playmate to his son, Michael. After Michael’s return from boarding school, Hortense realises her feelings for him are more than just fraternal.
A naturally proud and headstrong woman, Hortense has always kept her true parentage a secret. She also has a strong sense of her own destiny: to live in England with Michael and be a teacher there. When Michael is sent away to the war, Hortense instinctively fights to keep her dream alive and proposes to Gilbert, a man she hardly knows, but someone who will aid her passage to England. She arrives in a country which both surprises and disappoints her in its bleak and unfriendly ‘greyness’, but it is through this new life that she discovers a different side to her character and, for the first time, the meaning of true love.
- Ruth WilsonRuth Wilson (actress)Ruth Wilson is an English actress, perhaps best known for her performance in the title role of Jane Eyre.-Early life and education:...
as Queenie Bligh
Pretty Queenie is a tough survivor, with a good heart. Brought up on a pig farm in Yorkshire, from an early age she grows to hate the smell of the pigs, the squalor and the blood. With dreams of escape, she finally gets her wish when her kindly Aunt sends the train fare to London. Queenie is open-minded and hungry for new experiences. Full of youth and vitality, she goes to London with hope in her heart. Despite trying to better herself with elocution lessons, she can never quite shake her Yorkshire vowels.
When an unexpected death forces her into the arms of the educated but rather uninspiring Bernard, Queenie believes that her dreams are lost to her forever. But the war brings Queenie new experiences when Bernard is sent to the front line, and she embarks upon a dangerous but ultimately awakening affair.
- David OyelowoDavid Oyelowo- Background :Oyelowo was born in Oxford, England of Nigerian descent. He is married to actress Jessica Oyelowo and they have three sons.Oyelowo first attended a youth theatre after being invited by a girl to whom he was attracted. He then studied Theatre Studies for A level and his teacher...
as Gilbert Joseph
Gilbert appears the charming fool, but underneath he is a principled and naturally idealistic man who signs up to fight the war in England—not only with hopes of bettering himself, but also because he knows the world will be a darker place if Hitler is not defeated.
He has come from a poor but happy family in Jamaica and has tried to make his way despite being plagued by bad luck. His disappointments in England do not diminish him, and he relishes the newly opened-up world. On returning to Jamaica, he realises quite how small his island is. Unable to afford the fare for the Empire Windrush, he accepts the offer from the proud and uppity Hortense to pay for his passage in exchange for marriage. He knows he is being bought and is aware that he's cheap at the price. His marriage to Hortense may be one of convenience, but over time she begins to see the noble, kind and wise man that Gilbert is, which allows him to grow into the person he was destined to become.
- Benedict CumberbatchBenedict CumberbatchBenedict Timothy Carlton Cumberbatch is an English film, television, and theatre actor. His most acclaimed roles include Stephen Hawking in the BBC drama Hawking ; William Pitt in the historical film Amazing Grace ; the protagonist Stephen Ezard in the miniseries thriller The Last Enemy ; Paul...
as Bernard Bligh
Bernard Bligh is a middle-ranking bank clerk in his late twenties. He’s lived alone with his father in a large house in London ever since his mother died. His father suffers from shellshock after serving in the Great War and, as a result, never speaks.
Into this quiet and stable life breezes the lovely Queenie, who works at the shop where he buys The Times every day. She awakens in him feelings that he didn’t know he had, and after several outings he plucks up the courage to kiss her. After their marriage, Bernard soon reverts to his repressed and buttoned-down state, unable to open up and become the man and husband Queenie needs. Like many he suffers psychologically in the war, so much so that he cannot even recognise himself. Deep down, he knows he’ll never be enough for Queenie, but he can’t stop loving her.
- Ashley Walters as Michael Roberts
Michael is the son of the strict and god-fearing Mr Philip. Beguiling and non-conformist, with a streak of luck that runs through his life, Michael is brought up alongside Hortense—his rebellious streak always leading her into mischief. Hortense adores him, but he can only see her as a younger sister and is oblivious to her feelings. Returning from boarding school as an independent, handsome man, Michael soon begins a scandalous affair with a local teacher before joining the British Army.
When he finds Queenie in England, he feels an immediate connection to her, but Michael’s selfish nature means he can never be tied down.
- Nikki Amuka-BirdNikki Amuka-BirdNikki Amuka-Bird is a Nigerian born British actress of the stage and screen. Her theatrical credits include Welcome to Thebes ; Twelfth Night ; World Music ; Top Girls ; A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Tempest and The Servant of Two Masters Nikki Amuka-Bird is a Nigerian born British actress of the...
– Celia - Hugh QuarshieHugh Quarshie- Early and Personal Life :Quarshie is of mixed Ghanaian, English and Dutch ancestry and was born in Accra, Ghana, to Emma Wilhelmina and Richard Quarshie, and emigrated with his family to the United Kingdom when he was aged three...
– Narrator / adult Michael junior - Karl JohnsonKarl JohnsonKarl Johnson is a Welsh actor, notable for acting on stage, film and television. He is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University. His most notable role to date was the title role in Derek Jarman's 1993 film Wittgenstein...
– Arthur - Shaun ParkesShaun ParkesShaun Parkes is an English actor currently appearing in the ITV drama Identity.-Biography:At 16 he enrolled at Seltec College to study drama, two years later he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.-Career:...
– Winston
Episodes
| # | |Writer | |Original Airdate | The Guardian The Guardian The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format... praised the BBC for adapting a more modern novel set in a period other than the nineteenth century, observing " BBC does big budget Sunday night dramatisation minus bonnets and breeches—yay!". He noted that although he didn't "have anything against the old stuff" the classics were in danger of being "dramatised to death". Of the serial itself, he observed that the programme was "sumptuous to look at" and very "loyal to the novel... both in plot and how it shares its warmth". He also singled out Naomie Harris' performance as particularly impressive. Guy Adams of The Independent The Independent The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily... was also surprised and impressed with the BBC for using its Sunday-night flagship slot to show something that wasn't "very formal, very English, and very safe", instead offering "thought-provoking" drama that he acclaimed as "beautifully paced and at times very moving". Cast member David Oyelowo also praised the production as something fresh and new, noting how "The black experience has been very under-represented in terms of drama, and maybe Small Island can help highlight what an oversight that is." Not all reviewers, however, were as enthusiastic. John Preston of The Telegraph The Daily Telegraph The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B... complained that the time-shifts in the screenplay "made it extremely hard to settle into the story" and derided the narration as weak and simplistic. He concluded that "tonally and narratively the result [is] a mess". James Walton, also of The Telegraph was a little more generous but also complained of the weaknesses in the screenplay, labelling the narration as an "unignorable flaw", something that "diminishes [the action] to a series of staggering banalities" and lamenting that "after one of these interruptions is over, it’s possible to forget how painful it was". Nevertheless he noted the drama's positive qualities, including the "sheer interest of the subject matter and the sheer generosity of the storytelling" which was full of "sympathy and warmth". He also praised the cast, noting how "performances were generally strong enough to compensate for the script". Awards and nominations
External links
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