Netflix Bags UK & Ireland Rights To ‘White Nanny, Black Child’, Channel 5 & Andy Mundy-Castle’s Doc On African Children Fostered In The UK

Jesse Whittock
·2-min read

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix UK & Ireland has acquired Channel 5’s BAFTA TV-winning documentary White Nanny, Black Child.

Originally for Paramount Global’s UK network Channel 5 and co-financed by the BFI Doc Society fund, the doc explores the story of how over 70,000 West African children were unofficially fostered by white British families between 1955 and 1995. Jess Reilly, Sales & Acquisitions Manager at distributor Together Films, brokered the deal with Netflix.

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The film follows a group of nine adults who meet at a therapeutic retreat to share their experiences of being fostered. The result is billed as a “personal, moving and sometimes unsettling meditation on identity, belonging and the nature of family.”

Andy Mundy-Castle (David is Dying, Jimmy Akingbola: Handle with Care) is the director, with his Doc Hearts company producing alongside TigerLily Productions. Natasha Dack Ojumu (Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters) is the producer.

White Nanny, Black Child was a popular winner at the recent BAFTA TV Awards, collecting the Specialist Factual prize last month. Mundy-Castle delivered a powerful and emotional speech after winning. You can watch it here.

“This film tells a unique slice of history that affected so many people living in Britain today,” Mundy-Castle told Deadline in a statement today. “Exploring how an unregulated fostering procedure led to complex issues regarding race and identity. We are very excited for audiences to see the cinematic version on Netflix and this offers the film a whole new lease of life.”

“We are thrilled that White Nanny, Black Child will reach a wide audience on Netflix following its hugely deserved Specialist Factual BAFTA TV Awards win,” said Together’s Reilly. “At Together, we champion films that inspire, educate and entertain, while also achieving commercial success. We are proud this important film about race, identity, family and love will be available to millions via Netflix.”

The news comes on the eve of DocFest, which begins tomorrow in the British city of Sheffield. The market and conference will include the world premiere of Strike: The Uncivil War, which looks at another moment in British: When a massive deployment of police attacked striking laborers at a coking plant in Orgreave, in South Yorkshire. White Nanny, Black Child debuted at DocFest last year before broadcasting on Channel 5 in October.

For Netflix UK & Ireland, the deal is its latest for a British feature doc this year. In January, it swooped for The Sidemen Story, which released on February 14 and went on to hit the top of the streamer’s local charts.

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