Yahoo News Film Four lost interest in BBC's The Long Song as they had "filled their slave quota"
BBC One have adapted Andrea Levy's The Long Song into a stunning three-part drama, but the award-winning novel was very nearly adapted into a film for Film Four – had they not already "filled their slave quota" with Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave.
The production – which stars Tamara Lawrance and Hayley Atwell – took seven years to make, with writer Sarah Williams telling Digital Spy and others at a screening for the series: "It started life as a feature and it was challenging to adapt that great big book into a feature.
"And we started with Film Four, but they were already in development with 12 Years a Slave so I think they felt they had enough, that they had their quota of slavery projects, which was silly...
"But [production company] Heyday brilliantly did not let that project go. [They said] 'This story has to be told'. BBC have been great – they gave us three hours to tell this, which is a much better length of time to fit it all in. It's been a long road but we got there."
The Long Song follows the survival of an audacious young slave named July [Lawrance] who is mistreated by her mistress Caroline Mortimer [Atwell] on a plantation in Jamaica during the final days of slavery.
Three hundred years of slavery came to an end on the British-ruled Caribbean island of Jamaica in 1838, but it still remains a shameful and rarely-acknowledged part of British colonial history. The Long Song underlines racial inequality that still pervades our society today. Despite the horrors of humanity that it explores, it's also a story with the perfect blend of heartache and humour.
Sir Lenny Henry – who stars as Godfrey in the series – says slavery is an issue we still need to address in our society and teach in schools, arguing that we can't understand our present if we can't acknowledge our past.
"The retelling of the story of slavery and the British Empire's involvement is one that needs to be known because this is the stuff we didn't learn at school," Henry said.
"To read this book is to read something incredibly human, incredibly subversive and humorous and it was something I wanted to be part of because this is our roots. I feel like the day after they've [viewers] seen this there, [there'll] be a conversation about this.
"When you make something you want to be part of the national conversation, this will evoke a conversation about the past."
He added: "We're in a place where racism is on the agenda and if you don't know what happened, you don't know what's happening. So we need to look at the past so we can think about what happens going forward and this stuff, this slavery, is still happening so we need to watch these things and be informed going forward."
Digital Spy has reached out for comment from Film Four.
The Long Song begins on Tuesday, December 18 at 9pm on BBC One.
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