Sky defends slavery inheritance show from accusations of tone-deafness

Sky has been forced to clarify the plot of a comedy drama about an inheritance derived from slavery after being accused of making light of one of the darkest episodes in human history while also sidelining black British talent.

On Friday it emerged that Sky was on the verge of commissioning a show called Forty Acres, which would star the W1A team of Hugh Bonneville, Sarah Parish and writer Rufus Jones in a show about a family dealing with their historic links to slavery.

The Guardian understands that the project, which is in development and has not yet been commissioned by Sky, would follow Bonneville’s character – the heir of a country estate. His story echoes that of other real-life families such as the Trevelyans and the Lascelles who are wrestling with inheritances that came from the slavery economy.

“Sky Studios does have a development project with Rufus Jones and Bonnie Productions. It is categorically not a comedy about slavery,” a Sky spokesperson said. “The setting is modern day and the premise is the story of a man who must reflect on where his generational wealth has come from.”

The Guardian understands that two black British writers were involved in the production, while the pilot, which was shot over the summer on location near Watford, also featured the American actor GaTa, known for his role in Dave, who Sky says would co-star alongside Bonneville in Forty Acres.

But the idea of a British comedy about the topic of slavery with white stars was anathema to some, and several black British comedians and TV producers criticised the concept of the show on social media.

London Hughes, who is now based in the US, said: “A slavery comedy, told through the eyes of a white man, wouldn’t even be a discussion in America,” while Dane Baptiste added: “From the country that claims to have almost nothing to do with slavery, a ‘comedy’ about historic slavery. This is England.”

Hughes, who called British television and entertainment “institutionally racist” in her recent memoir and has been highly critical of the lack of black British shows being commissioned, called for Sky to abandon the production. “I urge you all to take a look at what’s being made, the type of subject-matter, the conversations, the context and characters around Black and Brown people on British television,” she wrote.

Jonte Richardson, a producer and showrunner who worked on the panel show Sorry, I Didn’t Know, said many black British people within the industry in general were frustrated that after the success of shows like Riches, Champion, Top Boy and Dreaming Whilst Black, an increasing number of black-led projects are being shelved or cancelled.

“It’s about agency,” he said. “We have white people benefiting financially from black trauma … Here we are, again, forced to see slavery through the eyes of a poor white person who’s coming to terms with it. The tone-deafness of that, in the context of how we are treated within the UK industry and what opportunities are afforded black folks, is even more egregious.”

The TV channel clarified that while Rufus Jones is the creator, the project was being developed by “a diverse team of creatives including black writers”, adding that Sky is committed to its “original programming slate being diverse and inclusive, on and off camera”.

The news comes two weeks after the publication of Creative Diversity Network’s sixth annual report on inclusivity in the UK TV industry, which revealed that black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds were underrepresented in senior positions across the industry. Despite people of colour making up about 13% of the UK population, roles such as series producers (5.5%) and heads of production (7.4%) had very low representation.

The pilot for Forty Acres was shot at a time when many British families are wrestling with their connections to historic slavery. In March this year, the former BBC presenter Laura Trevelyan, whose family publicly apologised for owning 1,000 enslaved people, quit the public broadcaster to become a full-time “roving advocate” for Caribbean nations seeking financial reparations from former colonial powers.

In the same month, Harewood House in Leeds, which is owned by the Lascelles family, unveiled a portrait of the actor David Harewood, whose ancestors were among the enslaved people forced to work on the Lascelles’ Caribbean plantation.