X

Join or Sign In

Sign in to customize your TV listings

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

A Respectable Trade

The devastating consequences of the slave trade in 18th century Bristol are explored through the powerful but impossible attraction of well-born Frances and her Yoruban slave, Mehuru. Bristol in 1787 is booming, from its stinking docks to its elegant new houses. Josiah Cole (Warren Clarke), a small dockside trader, is prepared to gamble everything to join the big players of the city. But he needs ready cash and a well-connected wife. An arranged marriage to Frances Scott (Emma Fielding) is a mutually convenient solution. Trading her social contacts for Josiah's protection, Frances enters the world of the Bristol merchants and finds her life and fortune dependent on the respectable trade of sugar, rum and slaves. Among the slaves is the educated and charismatic Mehuru (Ariyon Bakare). Lonely in her new life married to a boorish and uneducated husband with whom she has little in common, Frances finds herself increasingly drawn to Mehuru and he to her. But tensions are mounting and Mehuru and the other slaves are prepared to risk everything for their freedom.

Loading. Please wait...

Content not available in your region? ExpressVPN can help you stay connected wherever you are. Get 4 extra months FREE with TV Guide's exclusive offer.

Cast & Crew See All

Emma Fielding
Frances Cole
Anna Massey
Sarah Cole
Warren Clarke
Josiah Cole

Awards

  • 1999 - BAFTA TV Award - Best Drama Serial - nominated
  • 1999 - BAFTA TV Award - Best Costume Design - winner
  • 1999 - Golden Spire - Television - Drama-Miniseries - winner

You May Also Like See All

Fanny and Alexander
Boyhood
Lawrence of Arabia
Compensation

Popular Movies See all movies

That Thing You Do!

1 hr 48 mins
A Pennsylvania band scores a hit in 1964 and rides the star-making machinery as long as it can, with lots of help from its manager.
71   Metascore
1996 Comedy, Drama, Music

It's a Wonderful Life

2 hr 10 mins
George Bailey has spent his entire life giving of himself to the people of Bedford Falls. He has always longed to travel but never had the opportunity in order to prevent rich skinflint Mr. Potter from taking over the entire town. All that prevents him from doing so is George's modest building and loan company, which was founded by his generous father. But on Christmas Eve, George's Uncle Billy loses the business's $8,000 while intending to deposit it in the bank. Mr. Potter finds the misplaced money and hides it from Uncle Billy. When the bank examiner discovers the shortage later that night, George realizes that he will be held responsible and sent to jail and the company will collapse, finally allowing Mr. Potter to take over the town. Thinking of his wife, Mary, their four children, and others he loves will be better off with him dead, he contemplates suicide. But the prayers of his loved ones result in his guardian angel named Clarence Odbody coming to Earth to help him, with the promise of earning his wings. He shows him what things would have been like if he had never been born.
89   Metascore
1946 Drama, Family, Fantasy

Blue Film

1 hr 22 mins
Fetish camboy Aaron Eagle agrees to spend the night with an anonymous client, only to discover a disturbing tie to his past.
2025 Drama

Elemental

1 hr 41 mins
Set in Element City, where fire-, water-, land- and air-residents live together, Elemental introduces Ember, a tough, quick-witted and fiery young woman, whose friendship with a fun, sappy, go-with-the-flow guy named Wade challenges her beliefs about the world they live in.
58   Metascore
2023 Animation, Action & Adventure, Comedy, Family, Fantasy, Drama

Tombstone

2 hr 10 mins
In 1879, Wyatt Earp and his family arrive in the violent town of Tombstone with the intention of running a bar. But Earp is elected sheriff of the place and will have to face the Clantons, a gang that intends to dominate the town.
50   Metascore
1993 Documentary, Drama, Action & Adventure

The Kitchen

1 hr 42 mins
The wives of New York gangsters in Hell's Kitchen in the 1970s continue to operate their husbands' rackets after they're locked up in prison.
35   Metascore
2019 Action & Adventure, Suspense, Drama