Small Island - Episode guide
Adapted from Andrea Levy's best-selling, award-winning novel, BBC One's two-part drama, Small Island, is an epic love story about the determined pursuit of dreams in the face of seemingly insurmountable barriers.
> Read our interview with author Andrea Levy.
> Buy the book.
Episode 1
Sunday 6th December 2009
As the drama begins, Hortense has travelled from Jamaica to live with her new husband, Gilbert, in Forties London. Hortense arrives at Queenie Bligh's house where Gilbert has rented them a room in the attic. Having harboured dreams about moving to England with her first love, Michael, Hortense is immediately disappointed with both her new husband and the dingy home he has found for them. Hortense thinks back to her life in Jamaica, remembering her unspoken love for Michael; the pain of discovering him in the arms of another woman; how he was banished abroad to join the RAF; and how she was subsequently sent to Kingston to train as a teacher.
Meanwhile, Queenie also thinks back to the events that have led her to her present situation. Desperate to escape Yorkshire and her family's pig farm, she came to live with her beloved Aunt in London where she was pursued by the respectable but dull Bernard.
Like Hortense, Queenie has found herself in an unsatisfactory marriage and is forced to look after his shell-shocked father while Bernard fights in the Second World War. Queenie remembers one particular passionate meeting with a Jamaican RAF airman during the Blitz – the very same man whom Hortense loves.
Gilbert is hardly satisfied with his present situation either, knowing only too well that, in his desperation to leave Jamaica, he has allowed himself to be bought by Hortense, who has paid for his passage to England. He reflects on his first trip to England during the war as an RAF airman where he befriended Queenie in Yorkshire. Now, years later, all three are living under the same roof, yet Hortense and Queenie have no idea of the light they carry for the same man.
Episode 2
Sunday 13th December 2009
Hortense struggles to adjust to her new life in London. As she wakes up to the sound of rats running on the floor above the room she shares with Gilbert, Hortense realises that her sweet dreams of England's promise are over. Having encountered racism throughout his stay in London, Gilbert worries about what might happen to Hortense and asks their landlady and friend, Queenie, to look after her. Queenie obliges and consequently witnesses the racist attitudes to Hortense first-hand.
Things continue on a downward spiral for Hortense when her hopes of becoming a teacher in England are dashed. Even though she has received a private education and teacher training in Jamaica, she finds herself coldly rejected by the education authority. However, even though Gilbert has dreamt of studying in England, he selflessly declares that he will give up his plans to study so Hortense can retrain. Grateful for his sacrifice, Hortense begins to see the finer qualities of the man she so casually married and wonders if she could, in fact, one day love Gilbert.
Meanwhile, Queenie is shocked when she comes home to find Bernard on her doorstep, years after he went missing. His return forces Queenie to think seriously about how she will handle the dark secret that she has been harbouring. Bernard struggles to cope with Gilbert and Hortense living in his house and a furious argument ensues after he is caught rifling through their room. The commotion sends a pregnant Queenie into labour and Hortense has to deliver the baby while Gilbert tries to find a doctor.
Shocked to discover the baby is black, Hortense jumps to the wrong conclusion and runs into the night. However, Gilbert convinces Hortense that he is not the father and they both return to Queenie's side. Queenie knows that she cannot keep her baby and turns to the Josephs for the ultimate sacrifice that will bind them together for the rest of their lives.
