Michaela Coel hopes 'Black Earth Rising' will shed light on Rwandan genocide

BAFTA winner Michaela Coel is the lead star of upcoming BBC political thriller series Black Earth Rising alongside acting heavyweights John Goodman and Harriet Walker.

Exploring the cover-ups and political aftermath of the Rwandan Genocide, which is estimated to have cost the lives of up to two million, Coel said at the show’s screening Q&A that she hopes the series will shed light on the historical catastrophe.

She admitted to feeling ’embarrassed’ at her own lack of knowledge on the subject, “I got the scripts and was perplexed and embarrassed at my lack of knowledge about the whole thing,” she confessed.

Claiming it was down to attending a “s*** school” she added, “What propelled me through the whole series was trying to find redemption for my ignorance. I’m a bit more curious now. My education didn’t give me the gift of curiosity.”

In Black Earth Rising Coel stars as Kate Ashby, who after being rescued and adopted by prominent international lawyer Eve (Harriet Walker), her life is thrown into turmoil when Eve and Coel’s boss Michael Ennis (John Goodman) take on a legal case that will see a one-time Rwandan Genocide liberator prosecuted.

The big budget series is a joint venture between BBC and Netflix, and is filmed in both London and Ghana. The series writer and producer Hugo Blick explained the reasoning behind choosing to film in Ghana, 2,000 miles away from Rwanda:

“I would glibly and rather crudely say that lack of corruption. The political issues that surround the late stages of the story would make filming in the eastern African region difficult,” Blick said.

Black Earth Rising starts on BBC One Monday September 10th at 9pm.

Read more
First look at John Goodman’s BBC debut in Black Earth Rising
Michaela Coel discusses challenges as a black woman in the TV industry
Michaela Coel reveals she was sexually assaulted