This film is part of Free

You in Your Small Corner

Lloyd Reckord stars as a gifted student confronting the race and class divide in 1960s Brixton.

Drama 1962 81 mins

Overview

This rediscovered ITV Play of the Week offers a rare non-white perspective on Brixton's cultural and ethnic mix. Initially written for the stage by Jamaican-born dramatist Barry Reckord, the play stars his brother, the late Lloyd Reckord, as a gifted student confronting the race and class divide. 1960s south London life is evoked largely through studio-based scenes of a Jamaican social club and white, working-class households.

You in Your Small Corner is bold and frank in its depiction of interracial relationships; though the 1959 play Hot Summer Night can claim the first interracial kiss on broadcast television, this is altogether more explicit. It's passionate and impressively sophisticated in its exploration of the complexities of class and racial prejudice, and deserves its place in the pantheon of early black-authored British drama.