There was a time when the idea of seeing Black people in a period drama was a myth – unless they were enslaved, of course. But in recent years, we’ve been blessed with TV dramas like The Confessions of Frannie Langton and Three Little Birds, and epic feature length films like The Woman King.
The next show that should be featuring on watchlists everywhere is Black Cake, the eight-episode adaption of Charmaine Wilkeron’s kaleidoscopic family drama-cum-murder mystery that was an instant bestseller and instantly snapped up by Oprah for adaptation.
The series opens with a young woman running through the lush Jamaican countryside at night, ripping off a wedding dress as she sprints towards the sea. From that moment, we are fully immersed in the life and story of Eleanor Bennett as she peels back the layers of her life and reveals her most closely-guarded secrets to her estranged children, Benny and Byron.