Masterpiece, The Long Song

Sundays at 10 PM beginning Jan. 31

Repeats Mondays at 3 AM beginning Feb. 1

Also airs on Fusion on Sundays at 2 PM beginning Feb. 7

Tamara Lawrance stars as July, an indomitable house slave in Jamaica during the era of emancipation, with Hayley Atwell as her demanding, capricious mistress, in this three-part tale of hope and endurance. It is based on the award-winning novel by Andrea Levy.

The British press applauded the United Kingdom broadcast of “The Long Song,” with The Guardian calling it “a beautiful, moving, horrifying adaptation of Levy’s unsimple tale, that honors the source and its subject.” The Radio Times judged it “so finely tuned and carefully balanced that it’ll break your heart—and make you laugh at the same time.”

“The Long Song” is framed by the reminiscences of July, who grew up as a slave on a sugar plantation in Jamaica and is now looking back on her life. In extended flashbacks, she recounts her tumultuous story, which has been shaped by villains, heroes and well-meaning people who are an unsettled mix of the two.