A legal dispute over a former slave owner's vast estate raises the ghosts of empire
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An inheritance dispute forces a reckoning with the past in Possession, an ambitious five-part thriller that raises the ghosts of empire. When the heir of a British slave and plantation owner dies and leaves the £50 million estate not to his son Oliver Connaught (Jonny Lee Miller) but to Jamaican man Cudjoe East (Sheldon Shepherd), mixed-race lawyer Claudia (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) is deployed to Kingston to fight Oliver's corner.
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"This is punishment for what my ancestors did to his," concedes Oliver, who nonetheless insists that the former plantation house at Hope Hill is rightfully his.
"It is owed to my people," is Cudjoe's counter. "He is not getting it back."
The case serves as an allegory for the legacy of slavery and the conversation – or more pertinently, the lack thereof – over justice and the form it should take. To this day the UK Government's official stance remains that reparations will comprise an apology and nothing more. British slave owners and their descendents, however, were awarded tens of millions of pounds in compensation from 1837 to 2015, all taken from the public purse.
It's a gross injustice that pits Claudia's obligations to her profession against her own morals, and the discovery of grim trophies claimed by former mistress of the house Charlotte (Bel Powley) provides a tangible link with the past, bringing a horrible new dimension to an already unsettling case.
Read on as we explain how to watch Possession from anywhere.
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At the time of writing, it isn't clear when Possession will be available to watch in the US. However, it's likely to air on either NBC or Peacock.
For now, a VPN will help you tune in if you're spending time in the US from the UK. NordVPN is our recommended provider, and you can find out why with our in-depth NordVPN review.