Bonekickers

Virginia,1781

The Bristol Channel 227 years later.

Bonekickers S01E02 Warriors

So I have to hit my yellow ball

without touching this black ball at all. Is that right?

Don't pretend you don't know the rules. It's really irritating.

How often does she go and see her mother?

You can always tell. She'll be in a filthy mood.

- I don't want to go to Hull. - Why are we going to Hull?

They're building a retail park and need us to check the archaeology.

Bloody Hull!

I say! That was rather good, wasn't it?

Please stop doing this.

'The new girl, Viv, is settling in.'

The boys seem to like her.

But then again, she's female and she breathes.

Remember this, Mum? jaques de Saint-Omar.

Look at the shape ofthe sword.

Ring any bells?

Take care, Mum.

I love you.

You think America is ready for an African-American President?

I think America is ready for change.

It's not about black, it's not about white, it's about the people.

'The Senator for Virginia, comfortably ahead in all polls 'for the Democratic nomination,

has been accused of leaving comrades to die in the Gulf War.'

Oh, how gratifying I'm away from the lab for one hour and you all go to the bar.

We're going to Hull. A chap needs some libation.

Are you a big girly girl who screams at the sight of a bit of mud?

No.

Good. There's a change of plan. We're not going to Hull.

Oh, joy, there is a God!

So... where are we going?

This is absolutely appalling, Gillian,

and we've got an hour and a half to excavate four bodies before the tide comes in!

Another femur.

What do you think, Ben?

It's strange, but I'm not finding any hands anywhere.

You do know the tide rips through here at 12 knots, don't you?

All right. Let's just dig it out.

And risk losing archaeology?

It's either that or risk losing everything.

We'll just dig it out as a block deposit and sort them out back at the lab.

Look!

Manacles.

Slaves, do you think?

How amazing is that?!

What is it, Dolly?

A ship's bell...

with writing on it.

That should clear things up.

Slaves, still shackled together?

Well that'sjust an educated guess. We're attempting to carbon date the bones.

It's also potentially a can of worms.

Let us be absolutely sure what we've got before...

All right. I'll wait.

For a while.

Lots of bones and skulls.

They've been pretty bashed around by the tides.

Somerset. Somerset...

Here you are, Professor Parton.

Oh, lovely.

Oh, Sandie.

Can you get these samples down to the lab for an isotope test?

- Yeah, sure. - Thanks.

If it was down to me, I'd remove every vestige ofthe slave trade.

It was an obscenity and we still have streets named after slave traders -

music venues - statues.

You're not one of these frightful people who thinks Enid Blyton's a fascist, are you?

No, I'm just saying...

I once had a golly brooch collection that was the envy of the Lower Fourth.

He's winding you up, ignore him.

Got it! Somerset.

Well, she was a transport ship, sailing between the American colonies and Bristol.

I'll check her out at the Admiralty Office.

Now we know who owned her.

The Carrs.

'So you say this bell 'was found with the bodies of slaves?'

It's all a bit of a mystery.

Is there anything else you can tell us about the Somerset?

You mean was the Somerset a slave ship?

We had so many, you see.

No, it's of no interest to me.

Do you have your family's shipping records from that time?

Oh, you'll get no help from me.

You see, in my opinion, my forefathers,

they did nothing wrong.

No offence to either of you, of course.

No, different times, different, er... values.

You'd like to think so, wouldn't you?

Anyway, I shall do nothing to help you excoriate them now.

'According to the local Admiralty Office,

the Somerset'successfully completed its last voyage, delivering molasses to Bristol.

At the end of her working life she was chopped up for firewood in Nova Scotia.

So what's she doing at the bottom of the Bristol Channel?

Not only that. There is no record that she ever carried slaves.

It doesn't actually make sense - manacled slaves in the Bristol Channel.

Bristol was built on the slave trade.

Well, we took metals and other trinkets to West Africa where,

with assorted African chiefs and warlords,

we swapped them for captured slaves.

The British didn't do the capturing themselves?

No. Divide and rule. First rule of colonialism.

So slaves off to the West Indies and America,

where in turn they are exchanged for sugar, tobacco and other goods,

which returned to Bristol on ships like the Somerset.

There would have been black servants in Bristol, obviously.

But not manacled together.

That would only happen between Africa and the colonies.

So the records say the Somerset ended its days in North America.

But we know that's not true.

Doesn't make sense.

Well, it's a mystery.

And you know what I think about mysteries.

You don't like them.

Ben?

It's just the first time I've...

What these people went through. It's unimaginable.

Hello.

Gillian.

You know that can of worms you told Mastiff about?

I do believe one's got out.

'Community leaders in Bristol are outraged by the revelation '

that the remains of four bodies found under the Severn Bridge may be those of slaves.

'The discovery has re-prompted calls for an apology from the city

for its part in the slave trade.'

Quite a turnout.

Professor Magwilde?

No.

Is it true that you found some slave skeletons in the Bristol Channel?

No.

This man thinks that you did and he wants them back.

You must get them to stop. This isn't helping.

Excuse me! We're the archaeologists.

Is that an Ashanti chant?

Where do you stand on this debate?

Have we something to apologise for?

Oh, God!

OK, bones.

Let's talk bones.

This way, sir. Excuse me, please.

- Senator Joy. - Stinking coward!

Senator Joy, are you still running for office?

- of course he is. - What have you got to say for yourself?

Mr Lester, I have the latest poll results.

For God's sake! We were so close, so damn close!

I don't understand. They're saying when the Senator's tank was hit,

you ran, left your comrades to die?

- It's not true, Bobby! - Our tank took a direct hit.

Before I left, I checked every single one of my comrades... my friends.

They were all dead.

So how can they be talking to 'survivors'? It doesn't make sense.

It's because they're lying, you dumb ass!

There are some people, Bobby,

very powerful people,

who do not want a black man for President.

Come on, people, we have been doing well, but we always knew this moment would come.

They were never going to hand over the keys ofthe Oval Office to a black man...

not without one hell of a fight.

Now you know you're in a fight.

So come on. Come on!

- Work to do. - Back to work. Grab that stuff.

Dr. Peter Adabankah. Accra University, Ghana.

Specialising in political history and human rights.

The young people of St Pauls invite me to help them resolve this matter.

You really want to take the bones back to Africa?

Oh, I will take them back to Africa.

It's where they belong.

We don't even know if they're slaves yet.

Yes, we do. Where are your ancestors from?

Mine are from Ghana, via Trinidad.

- Glasgow. Via Glasgow. - And you?

Don't know.

If you don't know your past, how can you know your future?

You know that a 14-year-old black kid was killed near here last week?

Yeah, by a white gang.

So we don't need any more tension.

Exactly.

And you do know that the remains of the slaves, if that's what they were,

belong to the heritage of this country now.

And until we find out what happened to them and the Somerset,

they're not going anywhere.

There are powers in the universe

greater even than the English law.

I'm sorry, Dr. Adabankah,

but that sounds remarkably like a threat.

My ancestors will come home.

I knew this would happen as soon as the word 'slave' was mentioned.

Too many people with too many agendas.

Maybe the guy's got a point.

Why is it every time we dig something up...

- What happened? - I swerved to avoid them!

Them? Who?

The men in the middle ofthe road!

How many drinks did you have?

I didn't have any! They were right there, in the middle ofthe road.

Gillian!

What's wrong with you? What's going on?

Don't tell me you can't see them!

Can't see who? Gillian! Calm down!