Playing the Race Card

BBC

This was a truly revealing series in which we got truly behind the scenes and got unprecedented access to civil servants.

A three part documentary series looking at the politics of immigration and how at times UK politicians have played the race card, exploiting public concern for political gain. Contains archival footage and interviews with many key protagonists and politicians of the time.

Part One:
Part one of three focuses on the issues facing newly migrant Afro-Caribbean and South Asian communities and their subsequent vilification during the 1960s.

A Match To Gunpowder is part two and focuses on the political response to Enoch Powell’s Rivers Of Blood speech and the influx of South Asian migrants from both the Asian and African continents, during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

It took a riot….. is the third and final part and focuses on inner city riots during the 1980s, the Hong Kong handover and the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

BBC 1 TX October/November 1999 3 x 60 min
Series producer:  Liza Hall