Hugo Blick's Black Earth Rising, BBC Two review ★★★★★

Courtroom dramas are, very often, hammy affairs in the vein of Suits or The Good Wife. But not when they come from Hugo Blick. This writer / director / producer asks big questions with seriousness and integrity – which isn't the half of what makes TV drama Black Earth Rising such excellent, compulsive watching.

Blick previously made the complex, testing thrillers The Shadow Line and Honourable Woman both rich with conspiracies and set against a backdrop of political disquiet. For his latest feat, Black Earth Rising takes a courtroom drama and has it play out as a domestic dispute.

Kate, Chewing Gum star Michaela Coel, is a legal investigator in her 20s and the adopted Rwandan daughter of barrister Eve Ashby (Harriet Walter). When her mother takes on a case prosecuting a warlord responsible for recruiting child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo – a man who was also in part responsible for bringing the genocide of the Tutsis to an end – a rip tears down the fabric of their relationship.

A swirling mix of straining mental health concerns, a searching for a sense of belonging, a damning examination of the 'paternalistic' relationship between the West and African countries and outstanding performances from Michaela Coel, Harriet Walter and John Goodman make Black Earth Rising one of the most important and exciting dramas of the autumn. It's absolutely not to be missed.

Black Earth Rising airs Monday 10 September, BBC Two