A Respectable Trade is a 1995 historical novel by Philippa Gregory set in the Bristol docks in 1787.

Adaptation

Gregory adapted her work into a four-part TV serial which was broadcast by the BBC in 1998 and by the PBS in the United States in the fall of 1999. The series was partially filmed on site in Bristol, utilising the former house (and now museum) of plantation and slave owner John Pinney.

A Respectable Trade

Reception

A Respectable Trade was nominated in several BAFTA categories, including best serial, winning one BAFTA for Frances Tempest's historical costumes.

A Respectable Trade

Cast

Warren Clarke, Josiah Cole a trader in sugar, rum and eventually slaves

Emma Fielding, Frances Scott, his new aristocratic wife

Ariyon Bakare, Mehuru, an educated African slave

Grahame Fox, John Bates Slave driver

References

1995 British novels

British novels adapted into television shows

Novels about slavery

1990s British drama television series

BBC television dramas

Television shows based on British novels

1998 British television series debuts

1998 British television series endings

Fiction set in 1787

Novels set in the 1780s

Novels set in Bristol

HarperCollins books

A Respectable Trade