Three Little Birds (2023)

The Windrush Generation is when Black immigrants from around the Commonwealth countries came to the United Kingdom, the first folks having arrived on the HMT Empire Windrush in 1948. A recent series takes a look into the lives of female immigrants in Three Little Birds (2023), which premiered last year in the U.K. and finally arrived in the U.S. exclusively on BritBox.

The story begins in 1957 with three friends leaving Jamaica for Britain, and the first couple episodes introduce their backstories. There’s Leah, an abused wife who leaves her three young children in the hope of earning enough in the U.K. to reunite with them. She’s meeting up with her brother who gets her a job with him at a factory up north in Dudley, and she’s brought a friend Hosanna, as a potential wife for him. Hosanna is a very devout Christian and pastor’s daughter. Their third friend is Chantrelle, who dreams of being a movie star, and has taken a job as a nanny / maid for a white family near Borehamwood (and Elstree Studios), thinking that proximity will get her into films.

Flashbacks to their lives in Jamaica are a colorful contrast to the dark, difficult lives they’re forging in England. Their very first night in the new country is awful, and while they do manage to settle in a bit, racist threats are never far away. They each question their decision to come to this new country, and their resolve is tested many times.

The series was inspired by writer / producer Sir Lenny Henry’s memories and stories of his own mother. He told BradfordZone: “All the stories of mum, and her sister and best mate coming to Britain, 10 years after Windrush.” Likewise, Rochelle Neil who plays Leah, was inspired by her family tales. She told Country and Townhouse:

“My grandmother wrote a memoir, which I reread when prepping for the role and was a wonderful resource throughout. I had a first hand account of her life, the minutiae of growing up in Jamaica, meeting my Grandad and the decision they made to start a new life in England, including her experience settling upon arrival. That and the many poems by Miss Lou (Louise Bennett Coverley) were my inspiration throughout.”

Mena Martinez and Caron Newman are credited as costume designers, and neither have much in the way of previous period costume credits. But the looks are solid, with each character’s style immediately established. Chantrelle is the fancy gal, with New Look full skirts and bright red lipstick. Leah and Hosanna are different levels of more modest, with Hosanna being particularly prim. This kind of goes out the window in the Jamaican flashbacks when Leah and Chantrelle wear colorful prints and Hosanna wears sweet pastels. Both in Jamaica and the U.K., the ladies all wear proper hats and gloves and fancier ones for church.

In the BradfordZone interview, Sir Lenny Henry talked about the research they did for this series:

“We looked at great photographs by Vanley Burke and Roy Mehta. Incredibly characterful shots of life in a predominantly Black neighbourhood in the Midlands at that time. (I also looked at post-Jim Crow photographs by Gordon Parks. Stunning). In essence, these tales are about immigration; of migrants arriving on boats, and then becoming embroiled in their lives in this supposed motherland where the work is meant to be better. However, on arrival, they discover that the day-to-day of dealing with life is difficult.”

Unfortunately I couldn’t find the exact photos he’s talking about, but I did find a few images from the Windrush era, and they compare well with Three Little Birds in costume and production design.