Black Earth Rising (BBC-2 2018, Michaela Coel, Harriet Walter)

Black Earth Rising is a brand new international thriller about the prosecution of international war crimes and the West’s relationship with contemporary Africa written, directed and produced by the brilliant Bafta-winner Hugo Blick (The Honourable Woman, The Shadow Line).

As a child, Kate Ashby (Michaela Coel) was rescued from the horrific aftermath of the Rwandan genocide. She was adopted and brought up in Britain by Eve Ashby (Harriet Walter), a world-class international human rights lawyer. Kate has long struggled to escape the shadow of her past, but is now returning to work as a legal investigator in the same chambers as Eve, under leading international lawyer Michael Ennis (John Goodman). Kate and Eve’s relationship is strained to breaking point when Eve takes on the prosecution at the International Criminal Court of a controversial militia leader who had once fought to stop the genocide and now stands accused of committing crimes against humanity in the Democratic Republic of Congo after the genocide.

production details
UK / BBC Two / 8×50 minute episode / Broadcast from September 2018

Writer, Producer and Director: Hugo Blick

cast
Michaela Coel as Kate Ashby
Harriet Walter as Eve Ashby
John Goodman as Michael Ennis