Subnormal: A British Scandal release date - Steve McQueen to explore "one of the biggest scandals in the history of British education" in new BBC documentary”
Everything you need to know about the new documentary from Small Axe director Steve McQueen.
Last year, Steve McQueen’s Small Axe dramas deservedly won awards and praise for their depictions of the experiences of Black people in the UK.
Now the director has teamed up with the BBC for a pair of documentaries inspired by two of his Small Axe films, Mangrove and Education, with one focusing on the Black Power movement and the other, Subnormal: A British Scandal, looking at the ‘educationally subnormal’ schools of the 1960s and 1970s.
Featuring archive footage, interviews and documents from the time, the film details how many Black children were sent to these schools and how it affected them and their families.
Directed by Lyttanya Shannon (who also narrates the documentary) and produced by McQueen, it also examines the debates about race and intelligence that took place at the time, and how things have changed since the scandal was uncovered.
When is Subnormal: A British Scandal on?
Subnormal: A British Scandal is on BBC One on Thursday, 20th May, at 9pm.
Black Power: A British Story of Resistance aired on 25th March and is available on BBC iPlayer.
Subnormal: A British Scandal trailer
You can watch the powerful first trailer for the documentary below:
What is Subnormal: A British Scandal about?
The one-hour Subnormal: A British Scandal documentary looks at one of the biggest scandals in the history of British education, that McQueen previously explored in the moving Small Axe drama Education.
The documentary reveals how Black children in the 1960s and 1970s were disproportionately sent to schools for the so-called ‘educationally subnormal.’ It explores the debates on race and intelligence that led to the scandal, the IQ testing that took place and how it was biased against Black children, and the shocking leaked school report that revealed the common conception of teachers that Black children had lower IQs than their English contemporaries.
It was the racism of that report that led Black parents, teachers, and activists to band together to expose the injustice and demand that the education system must change, and the film includes interviews with those involved at the time, including former ESN students who talk about their education and what it was like being labelled ‘educationally subnormal.’
What has Steve McQueen said about Subnormal: A British Scandal?
In an interview to announce his new project, McQueen stated that many people in the two documentaries would be “telling their stories for the first time.”
He went on to say that: “Looking at the past is an indication of what we have achieved today. These two documentaries [Subnormal and Black Power] show us how far we still have to travel for liberty and justice.”
Subnormal: A British Scandal airs on BBC One on Thursday, 20th May at 9pm. See what else is on with our TV Guide. Also visit our dedicated Documentaries hub for more news.
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