David Olusoga sets out to find Britain’s slave traders in two-part BBC doc

Finding Britain’s Slave Traders with David Olusoga is based on new academic research

UK public service broadcaster the BBC has commissioned a two-part documentary about the British people and organisations involved in the transatlantic slave trade.

Finding Britain’s Slave Traders with David Olusoga sees the historian set out to explore the individuals, institutions and organisations who financed Britain’s trade in enslaved Africans from its first tentative steps in the 16th century to abolition in 1807.

The 2×60’ series, for BBC Two and iPlayer, is based on exclusive access to the findings of a new academic research project led by Professor William Pettigrew, which uncovers the stories of some of the 13,000 individuals and hundreds of institutions involved in the slave trade.

The series is coproduced by Olusoga’s prodco Hillgate Films and Voltage TV. Francis Welch directs, while Olusoga and Sanjay Singhal exec produce.

Olusoga said: “This new series is a follow-up to a series we made over a decade ago: Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners. Both series have been built on the very latest academic research that allows us to reveal new details from our expanding understanding of slavery and the slave trade. Like the previous series, Finding Britain’s Slave Traders presents the granular details and human stories that lie at the centre of this vast and complicated history.”