Three Little Birds
“Three Little Birds spotlights the Windrush Generation and recognizes Caribbean immigrants’ outsized contributions to British culture.”
Title: Three Little Birds
Episodes Reviewed: Season 1
Creator: Sir Lenny Henry 👨🏾🇬🇧
Writers: Sir Lenny Henry 👨🏾🇬🇧 (4 eps), Avril E. Russell 👩🏾🇬🇧 ( 1 ep), and Carol Russell 👩🏾🇬🇧 (1 ep)
Reviewed by Carolyn Hinds 👩🏾🇧🇧🇨🇦♿️
—SPOILERS AHEAD—
Technical: 5/5
There’s no bond quite like the bond forged between women going through tough times together. For Leah (Rochelle Neil), her younger sister Chantrelle (Saffron Coomber), and their friend Hosanna (Yazmin Belo), the journey from their countryside home in Jamaica’s Saint Ann to the cobblestone streets of 1957 England creates one as strong as their will.
Inspired by the life of his mother, show creator and actor Sir Lenny Henry gives audiences a look at the lives of Caribbean immigrants during a wave of mass migration after the end of WWII, known as the Windrush Generation (named for the passenger ship HMT Windrush that brought thousands of immigrants from the Caribbean to Dover, England). This unique group, including Leah, Chanterelle, Hosanna, and the many Black West Indian expats they meet, changed the future of their newly adopted home, and the entire world.
The series does a terrific job of crafting compelling leads, each with lives as complicated as the new social parameters they must navigate day by day. Leah is a mother forced to leave her three young children behind in a bid to make a better life for them across the seas—a woman filled with determination, no matter how much her abusive husband tried to tear her down. Hosanna is a God-fearing Christian looking to find a future and possibly a husband, with a sterner side and sharp tongue that’s tempered by a sly sense of humor. As for Chantrelle, she’s the opposite to Leah and Hosanna, all flair and drama as she uses every opportunity to be the center of attention. Coomber plays the aspiring film star with a confidence that’s never arrogant, but sweet with just the right amount of bite to let people know she won’t be walked all over.
Though the writing for the most part stays dedicated to its characters, the narrative and dialogue decisions around Leah’s brother Aston (Javone Prince) leave a lot to be desired. He demonstrates bad behavior, constantly lying to his love interest, Hosanna, and flippantly remarking that he’ll kill her or ship her back to Jamaica (as a “joke”) if she does something he doesn’t like. But these casual abuses are never addressed in the moment, nor later by those around him. Even if this is intentional commentary on the ugly pervasiveness of sexism, the assertion is half-formed as yet, hopefully to be addressed in future seasons.
Overall, it’s fitting that Sir Henry chose “Three Little Birds” for the title of a show dedicated to his mother and other Black women, not only because it’s the name of the famous song by Jamaican legend Bob Marley, but the alternate version sung by Corrine Bailey Rae is a beautiful story of Black girls and women enjoying carefree summers and finding themselves as they grow.
Gender: 5/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES
The women of Three Little Birds are the foundation upon which this show is built, their connections weaving a web of relationships and subplots that reveal new layers to its main characters, to Caribbean and English society, and also to gender dynamics.
In the show’s romances, women sit at the forefront rather than being pushed aside for male storylines. With her potential beau Shelton (Bobby Gordon), Leah gets to be flirtatious and enjoy his smooth advances—a manifestation of Chantrelle’s earlier encouragement of Leah to put herself and her desires first. Chantrelle’s confidence and self-assuredness of her own talent as an actress inspires Leah, and Leah’s determination to keep pushing for better for herself similarly inspires her little sister. As for Hosanna, being the only devout female Christian in their newly formed community means that she occasionally has disagreements with the others. But thankfully, Chantrelle and Leah never allow her to be belittled for her faith; they may not be related by blood, but Hosanna is their sister.
Across the season, the three female leads beautifully support one another. However, Three Little Birds doesn’t blithely assume that sisterhood is uniformly positive; there’s always going to be someone you don’t get along with, and for Leah, that someone is Bernadette (Shvorne Marks), her new coworker and rival for Shelton’s attention. Their interactions hilariously pinpoint how rivalries can develop over romantic prospects, bolstered by accurate Jamaican dialects and Caribbean references, such as a scene where characters call Bernadette “malicious”—a term used across the region to describe someone who spends more time minding the business of others than their own.
Then there’s Chantrelle’s white boss, Diana Wantage (Amy Beth Hayes), whose classist and racist ideologies are made apparent when Chantrelle reports for duty on her first day as a live-in nanny. While Chantrelle is up to the task of cooking and cleaning, she’s in no way prepared for the open hostility from Diana who treats her with no regard as a person. Furthermore, Diana’s husband Ernest (Arthur Darvill) makes inappropriate comments and sexual advances towards Chantrelle. Even then, Diana makes no objections, preferring to turn a blind eye to things like Ernest removing the door to Chantrelle’s room. Thankfully, Three Little Birds knows how to take care of its women: After Chantrelle makes a panicked phone call, Leah and Hosanna come to her rescue.
Race: 5/5
The end of WWII saw a change in economic possibilities for many Black people in the Caribbean. For thousands, England seemed like the promised land, the home of the colonial empire they had been living under since the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade that began in the 1500s. Skilled workers like nurse Hosanna, and dressmaker Chantrelle, as well as teachers, carpenters, and others, brought their knowledge with them—but that didn’t mean anything to a society where racism and classism were as present as the smog that hung in the air.
To give audiences this context, the series includes moments of vitriol spewed at Black people, such as when a group of young white men chase Black patrons from a local tavern. In another scene, a racial slur is painted on a wall in the housing development where the main characters and many other immigrants have settled.
Just as Siobhan (Michelle Fox), the nanny for the family living next to the Wantages, represents the tumultuous history of Ireland, so too does the character of Ms. Biswas (Shobu Kapoor). The Indian owner of the boarding house where Leah, Hosanna, and Aston live has a shared history and serves as a visual and narrative reminder that England has always been a racially and ethnically diverse country, in spite of what many British period shows and movies would like to portray.
LGBTQ: 3.5/5
The show subtly hints at Chantelle being bisexual and interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with fellow domestic worker Siobhan. This potential queer romance begins with the two women bonding over their shared exasperation for working with English families who don’t value them. Siobhan may be white, but being Irish and working class gives her some understanding of Chantrelle’s challenges. When James starts to make sexual advances towards Chantrelle, Siobhan offers her a room to hide in at night, and their interactions become more frequent and close.
What also makes their relationship special is Siobhan’s unwavering belief in Chantrelle’s dream that she’ll become a star one day. She constantly shows in word and deed that she’ll be Chantrelle’s cheerleader and support system.
Bonus for Disability: +0.50
Three Little Birds has main characters who live with the mental ramifications of past and ongoing trauma. Leah suffered years of physical, verbal, and emotional abuse in her marriage to Ephraim (Leemore Marrett Jr.). She instinctively flinches away from the touch of men, has little patience and trust for them, and is always cautioning Chantrelle to be more circumspect in her male encounters. And when Leah goes to the movies on a date with Shelton, she has a visceral reaction to a scene of a woman being assaulted, taking herself outside to vomit.
Meanwhile, Chantrelle is going through her own manipulation, harassment, and assault by Ernest. This has left a mark on Chantrelle’s psyche that will take time to heal, serving as a sad example of what many female domestic workers go through in real life.
In depicting various causes of mental trauma in Black people, the writers contextualize the sixth sense Black people develop to detect racist behavior, speech, and intent. All of the Black characters in Three Little Birds demonstrate this hypervigilance, seen in the way they close ranks when faced with a hostile white person. It’s in the way Aston and Shelton assume the roles of protectors when a group verbally assaults them in a pub, hurling slurs and threats. This racialized trauma can be tough to watch, but it’s important to know our history.
Mediaversity Grade: A 4.75/5
Three Little Birds is a thoroughly entertaining show about three women who have dreams and desires you’ll want to see coming to fruition. But more than that, the show can inspire people to dig into the history of the Windrush Generation. The hope is that we continue to recognize these immigrants’ outsized contributions to British culture, as well stay vigilant to the many challenges they and their descendants face today.
Like Three Little Birds? Try these other titles set in 1950s England.
Phantom Thread (2017)
The Crown - Season 1
Baby Driver (2017)