Streaming service not confirmed · Series

Finding Britain's Slave Traders with David Olusoga

2026 · United Kingdom · BBC iPlayer

Finding Britain's Slave Traders with David Olusoga is set to explore the individuals, institutions and organisations who financed Britain's trade in enslaved Africans from its first tentative steps in the 16th century to abolition of the trade in 1807.Based on exclusive access to the findings of a new academic research project, led by Professor William Pettigrew, this series follows the work of the research team who, over five years, built a new database; the Register of British Slave Traders.The series paints a forensic portrait of the traders and investors and the vast and complex system of investment and profits they created. It shows where they lived, how much money they made and uncovers links between modern British institutions and the trade in enslaved people.Twelve years ago, in the series Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners, David Olusoga explored the compensation paid to Britain's slave owners when slavery in the British Empire was abolished in 1833. This new series uncovers the identities and the back stories of the slave traders – the thousands of individuals and organisations who engaged in the trade in human beings.