Red, White And Blue: John Boyega stars in Steve McQueen's latest Small Axe film

'Red, White And Blue' is the third instalment of Steve McQueen's Small Axe series

Red, White And Blue
(Image credit: BBC Pictures)

The highly-anticipated Red, White And Blue, the latest instalment of Steve McQueen's Small Axes series, is finally coming to the BBC this weekend. 

The Oscar-winning filmmaker behind Widows and 12 Years A Slave has teamed up with the broadcaster for the making of Red, White And Blue, a real-life drama about Black British police officer Leroy Logan. 

John Boyega at the EE British Academy Film Awards 2020 After Party

(Image credit: Getty Images: Photo by Tristan Fewings)

Set in the 1980s, the story follows Logan who is played by Star Wars actor and national treasure John Boyega. Logan abandons  his career in research science to join the police force after his father is brutally beaten up by racist police officers in an attempt to stop police brutality towards not only his family, but Black people in Britain. 

The hour-long drama was filmed during the height of this year's Black Lives Matter movement and speaking to Indie Wire, McQueen said:  “Obviously, the films were made when all these things happened. I was very passionate about it.”

The short film is the third of five instalment in McQueen’s Small Axe series with BBC films, an initiative launched to explores racial issues specific to the UK.

“It started as a TV series,” he revealed. “But as I developed it, I came to realise that these stories needed to be standalone films. For me, they became individual stories. But obviously they’re linked, and the connective tissue is the Black British experience, the Black Indian experience. These are historical pieces that we need to come to light.”

Red, White, Blue comes after the first two instalments of Small Axe, Mangrove and Lovers Rock aired, starring a host of Black British talent such as of Black Panther's Letitia Wright, Malachi Kirby and Topboy's Michael Ward. 

Red, White And Blue is set to air on BBC One this Sunday at 9pm. 

Sagal Mohammed

Sagal is a journalist, specialising in lifestyle, pop culture, fashion and beauty.  She has written for a number of publications including Vogue, Glamour, Stylist, Evening Standard, Bustle, You Magazine, Dazed and Wonderland to name a few.