The era when slavery was legal and openly practiced in England is the backdrop for a story of greed, cruelty, and forbidden love, in A Respectable Trade.
Set in the English seaport of Bristol in 1788, A Respectable Trade illuminates a shameful period of British history, when the Empire’s ships transported 35,000 captives yearly across the Atlantic to serve as slave laborers in the New World. At the time, some people condemned the practice as immoral and barbaric, but most considered it a “respectable trade,” like any other.
Adapted by Philippa Gregory from her popular novel of the same name, A Respectable Trade stars Emma Fielding as Frances Scott, a well-bred English governess who marries an awkward, uneducated slave trader from Bristol because she has nowhere else to turn.
Shown on PBS Masterpiece Theatre.
Note: This much loved literary adaptation does not appear to be available on DVD at the time of this writing (9/2015) but is on VHS and perhaps will air again on Masterpiece.