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Airdate: Roots

Acclaimed remake of classic 1970s miniseries will air on SBS over two weeks in July.

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In July SBS will screen the remake of classic 1970s miniseries Roots.

The 4 part series, which has attracted positive reviews, screened in the US last month.

It will air on SBS over two weeks.

Based on the 1976 Pulitzer Prize winning book written by Alex Hayley, Roots tells the story of Kunta Kinte — a seventeen-year-old man taken from the Mandinka village of Juffure, Gambia, and sold as a slave to a plantation owner in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. The dramatic series then follows his journey and the generations that follow.

When the original series aired almost forty years ago it sparked controversy and headlines from all view points, and according to some reports, had President Ronald Regan speaking out about the series.

Roots (1977) drew an estimated 130 million viewers, won nine Emmy Awards and launched an unprecedented national conversation in America about slavery. The show still remains the most-watched TV drama in U.S television history and Australia’s tenth most-watched program of the 20th century.

During its 2016 premiere week in the U.S, the drama re-make pulled in a massive 14.4 million viewers; as Americans were re-introduced to the historical character that has become ingrained in American culture as the slave who fought back.

In the time of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ era, Roots (2016) received rave reviews in the lead up to its U.S premiere, with critics calling it “stunning” (New York Times), “powerful” (The Hollywood Reporter) and “a still-necessary explainer” (Boston Globe).

The four-part miniseries boasts some of Australia’s leading and award-winning directors with Philip Noyce (Rabbit Proof Fence) and Bruce Beresford (Mao’s Last Dancer, Driving Miss Daisy, Breaker Morant) both directing episodes.

The series also features a stellar cast including Academy Award winners Forest Whitaker (Fiddler) and Anna Paquin (Nancy Holt); Academy Award nominee and Emmy Award winner Laurence Fishburne (Alex Haley); Golden Globe Award winning and Emmy Award nominated actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Tom Lea); Tony Award winner Anika Noni Rose (Kizzy); Grammy Award winner Tip “T.I.” Harris (Cyrus); Chad L. Coleman (Mingo); Emayatzy Corinealdi (Belle); Matthew Goode (Dr. William Waller); Derek Luke (Silla Ba Dibba); Mekhi Phifer (Jerusalem); James Purefoy (John Waller); Erica Tazel (Matilda). The series also introduces Malachi Kirby as Kunta Kinteand Regé-Jean Page as Chicken George.

Begins Wednesday 27 July at 8.30pm on SBS,

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