When news of a remake of Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’ broke, I had mixed feelings. Do we really need another ‘slave’ movie or series? On one hand I’ve had enough of seeing the bodies of Black people mistreated and the over hyping of these kind of movies by the powers that be. It seemed like recently movies with predominantly Black casts will not be recognise unless it was about slavery. And then on the other hand the original ‘Roots’ released in 1977 was such a powerful watch and anything that can teach the younger generation, both Black and White, about this horrific human history is surely important plus it featured our very own Malachi Kirbi.
Roots finally made it onto UK screens yesterday, Wednesday 8th February on BBC4, (Why its not on prime time TV beggars belief) to a record high of 1 million plus viewers and Lord Gawd was it brutal! Emotions were riding high and its just episode 1.
#Roots will always make me all levels of angry with humanity.
— B (@TweetsByBilal) February 8, 2017
#Roots @BBCFOUR NOW. I don’t know how much I can watch without getting upset but its on series link and necessary viewing.
— Dianne (@Di_Larri31) February 8, 2017
There’s a whole generation who haven’t seen #Roots so why hide it away on BBC4 ?
— Michael (@HeidiFundi) February 8, 2017
Jinna (SIMOA BROWN) – Photographer: Unknown
After watching the first episode and seeing the response from the viewing public and the outstanding performances by a mixture of established and up and coming talents, I must say I am looking forward to watching the rest of the series.