Episodes
| Episode | First Broadcast | Repeated | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | 20180806 | 20220530 (BBC7) 20220531 (BBC7) | It's 1945 in San Francisco. Aged 17, and a single mother, Maya falls in love. Dramatised in five parts by Patricia Cumper. Curly - Sope Dirisu Bailey - Paapa Essiedu Uncle Charley - Anthony Ofoegbu The books that make up the life and times of Maya Angelou are some of the best, most beautiful and haunting pieces of autobiography written. They run the gamut from life affirming to tragedy and back again with a tone that is a joyous, direct and searingly honest, and are an extraordinary portrait of 20th-century black America. It's 1945, and Maya is a 17-year-old single mother. |
| 02 | 20180807 | 20220531 (BBC7) 20220601 (BBC7) | Maya is 18 and a single mother. To thwart a seduction, Maya has a business proposition and slides into the world of prostitution. Mother Cleo - Ellen Thomas Johnnie Mae - Cecilia Noble Beatrice - Ayesha Antoine Dramatised by Patricia Cumper. Maya is a single mother sliding into the world of prostitution. |
| 03 | 20180808 | 20220601 (BBC7) 20220602 (BBC7) | Maya is struggling to find a way forward, and has returned to her Grandmother in Arkansas. Momma - Cecilia Noble LC - Sope Dirisu Recruiter - John Lightbody Dramatised by Patricia Cumper. Maya returns to her grandmother in Arkansas. |
| 04 | 20180809 | 20220602 (BBC7) 20220603 (BBC7) | Maya teams up with Poole for a new career in dancing, only it doesn't go to plan. So when she meets LD, she mistakenly believes he's the man of her dreams. RL Poole - Samuel Anderson LD - Danny Sapani Clara - Ayesha Antoine Dramatised by Patricia Cumper. Maya teams up with Poole for a new dancing career. |
| 05 LAST | 20180810 | 20220603 (BBC7) 20220604 (BBC7) | Maya has turned to prostitution to help her boyfriend supposedly out of debt. 'I felt my own innocence as real as a grain of sand between my teeth'. Bailey - Paapa Essiedu LD - Danny Sapani Clara - Ayesha Antoine Troubadour Martin - Samuel Anderson Dramatised by Patricia Cumper. Maya slips into the world of prostitution and narcotics. |