Director McQueen to make TV drama

AWARD-WINNING film director Steve McQueen is teaming up with the BBC to make an epic drama about the lives of black Britons over more than half a century.

McQueen, who grew up in west London, is widely expected to pick up an Oscar nomination for best director for his latest film, 12 Years A Slave.

Bosses at the Corporation are staying tight-lipped about the planned series which has been described as “a major drama” and is believed to be set in the capital and stretch 
from the late 1960s to the present day.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

But the BBC’s drama controller, Ben Stephenson, said: “It is too early to announce the details, but it is 
incredibly exciting to be working with the hugely talented British 
director who has rapidly become one of the finest directors in the world.”

McQueen was born in London to Grenadian parents and grew up in Ealing in the capital, before attending Chelsea College of Arts and Goldsmiths.

The film director, who now lives in Amsterdam, first found fame as a video artist, winning the Turner Prize in 2006.

In 2006, he produced Queen and Country, commemorating the deaths of British soldiers in Iraq by presenting their portraits as a sheet of stamps.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

His mainstream movie career began with Hunger, about the Northern Irish hunger strikers, followed by the sex addiction film Shame – which both starred the actor Michael Fassbender.

McQueen was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2011 for services to the visual arts.

Related topics: