The Stars of 'Three Little Birds' On the Universal Nature of This Post-Windrush Story

BritBox’s Three Little Birds is not always an easy drama to watch. But it’s an important one. The 1950s-set period project hails from Black British comedian Sir Lenny Henry, who based the series on the stories of his mother and those like her who traveled to the U.K. as part of the Windrush generation. Workshopped with the help of Doctor Who’s Russell T. Davies, the series features “a warmth and heart that honors the thankless work of the Caribbean men and women performed who toiled to raise families and gain financial autonomy.”

In 1948, the British Nationality Act gave people from Commonwealth countries the right to live and work in Britain, as workers were needed to help counteract post-World War II labor shortages. The “Windrush generation” generally refers to those from the Caribbean — Jamaica, Trinidad, and Barbados, among other places — who traveled to work in Britain hoping for a new life and better opportunities for themselves. Many became manual workers, domestic helpers, drivers, and nurses in the newly established National Health Service. Named after one of the most well-known ships that facilitated these crossings (HMT Empire Windrush), this mass migration movement had a lasting effect on British culture and politics, yet it is infrequently explored in popular media, and it’s very likely many American viewers are unaware of this particular slice of history.

Three Little Birds aims to change all that. The series follows the story of three women — Leah, Hosanna, and Chantrelle — who arrive in England only to discover that the bright future they were promised on the other side of the ocean carries a bit more tarnish than they expected. The women face verbal and physical abuse, sexual harassment, professional inequalities, racism, and more. Yet the strength of the communities they build with one another helps them survive and learn to thrive in an unfamiliar and occasionally hostile land.