• Air date: 06 Dec '09 2 episodes
      Small Island is a two-part 2009 BBC One television drama adapted from the 2004 novel of the same title by Andrea Levy. The programme stars Naomie Harris and Ruth Wilson as joint respective female protagonists Hortense Roberts and Queenie Bligh, two women who struggle to fulfil their personal ambitions and dreams amidst the chaos of World War II London and Jamaica. The serial was developed by producers Joanna Anderson and Vicky Licorish of AL Films, having optioned Levy's novel. The script was first written by Sarah Williams and later amended by Paula Milne. It was directed by John Alexander, who also directed the BBC's 2008 adaptation of Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility. The serial consists of two 90-minute episodes that premiered on 6 December 2009, and was shown in the United States on PBS as part of the channel's Masterpiece Classic Collection beginning 18 April 2010.
  • List of Episodes (2)
    • 1. Episode 1

      06 Dec '09
      London 1948: Hortense joins Gilbert, her new husband, in England, where he is lodging with Queenie Bligh. The women have both married in unpromising circumstances as love is a luxury neither can afford. As Hortense remembers her life in Jamaica and the profound love she had for Michael and his betrayal of her, Queenie also remembers her night of passion with the same Michael when her husband was away at war. Initially suspicious of each other, will they uncover the secret they share?
    • 2. Episode 2

      13 Dec '09
      The emotional and moving climax to the stories of Hortense, Queenie and Gilbert whose lives entwine in post Second World War London. Hortense begins her new life in England and soon learns it is not the golden land she hoped it would be. She and Gilbert suffer racism and ignorance, but in adversity they discover new qualities in each other and begin to fall in love. Queenie is shocked when her husband Bernard returns to her after years away. When she goes into labour and has a baby by a