As part of their push to release a ‘Big Screen Drama Every Month’, Sky Atlantic have dropped the first trailer for Guerrilla, a six-part drama from 12 Years a Slave’s John Ridley.
Based in 1970s London, Guerrilla follows politically active lovers Jas (Freida Pinto) and Marcus (Babou Ceesay) and their friends as the political becomes personal. The group of activists go head-to-head with a racist police force who are dedicated to crushing them. Guerrilla explores the nature of a relationship under pressure and poses the question: what if the original Black Power movement in London had used violence?
Idris Elba serves as an exec producer and plays Kent, a second generation Brit dedicated to achieving equality for black people in Britain through peaceful and intellectual methods. The series also stars also stars Rory Kinnear, Nathaniel Martello-White, Daniel Mays, Denise Gough, Brandon Scott, Zawe Ashton, Nicholas Pinnock, and Wunmi Mosaku.
“Guerrilla has been the culmination of many ambitions. First and foremost, the opportunity to tell a little-known story from our recent history, a story which not only feels relevant to our life in London today, but informs our understanding of it,” comments Elba. “Collaborating with John Ridley has been a longtime desire of mine. His work here is nothing short of a masterclass in character-building and storytelling.”
John Ridley, who is writer and director of Guerrilla, adds “Though a created narrative, Guerrilla is rooted in the realities of an era when the young and the passionate of differing backgrounds found themselves united by a struggle for the rights of people of colour, of the oppressed, the disenfranchised, and the marginalised. If those rights could not be obtained by way of public referendum, they would be had with the blast of a bomb, or from the end of a gun. These beliefs are personified in our lead characters Jas and Marcus. They are reflected, as well, in an ensemble that must deal with the consequences of their own actions – and at times in action – both for and against ‘the cause’.”
Guerrilla will air from Thursday, 13th April 2017 on Sky Atlantic, and is a co-production with Showtime, who will air it in the US.
