The Long Song

Adapted from a fictional novel about the before, during and after the abolition of slavery.

This lengthy saga was very successfully realised in this BBC drama. You sensed the author had conglomerated several lives to raise situations and issues that would sustain a long novel.

This sense of expanse played well and there was fine acting throughout. This was great Sunday night viewing and with the entertainment we learnt a great deal about some difficult truths about sugar production.

Just finished the series and while it was frustrating, painful and heartbreaking at times, it is well worth watching. It touches on so many issues that remain relevant today - colorist, the arrogance of privilege, the desire to escape racial boundaries, yet the risks that can come when things go wrong. I felt the series did a good job of showing the casual brutality and sadism of the slave system and the utter immorality of the whites who owned slaves. The story of July was frustrating because she was clearly clever, yet seemed utterly unaware of the duplicity of the whites around her, including her "husband" and master.

Despite these shortcomings I found it compelling and well acted. Several commuters have claimed the actress who played July was too dark to be of mixed race or be a house slave. Neither is true. It is not the case that all mixed race people are fair skinned or that all house slaves were fair skinned.

I think this production is trying to rewrite history. Slaves calling "Overseers" husband and then in return them saying they are "In love," or calling a slave girl his"wife " Is sugar coating scenarios that were nothing but rape! The Overseer asking the slave to sit down at the table with his white wife unbelievable and the only one who was truthful was the wife when she screamed "No!"Someone needs to get their history books out or just watch "Roots." Having slaves smiling as the overseer disrespects their wives and them by having sex with them the night before his marriage is insulting. Having slaves smirk at another as one hops in the front seat of the overseer cart is ridiculous because we all know what part of a buggy a slave would be in. Trying to rewrite history to make slavery more humane will not work. You are pulling the wool over no one's eyes.

Its ok. Zip fasteners on the dresses though! A 20th century invention. Always a crass mistake.

Other critics have touched on the shortcomings of this production. I have only seen the first episode but find the series to be engaging and atmospheric. I don't think July's trickster ways were uncommon for enslaved people. She becomes a lady's maid under painful circumstances. There's an act or two that are somewhat comic. Then comes the cruelty and violence that are certainly omnipresent in the lives of the enslaved. Nevertheless, the first episode ends on an intriguing note. I am here for the rest of this program, and feel viewers of Masterpiece will not be disappointed. Historically accurate? It might fall short, but so does Downton Abbey and there are no complaints. Allow yourself to enter July's world for a spell and let's find out what she does next.