Commissions

Greenlit: Black Cab White Cab, BBC1

Black Cab White Cab (1 x 60′) –  This documentary tells the story of two Burnley taxi cab companies, white and Asian, narrated through the experiences of the drivers and their customers.

This film is about cultural segregation in Britain using Burnley as the extreme microcosm, and will follow a whites-only-run cab company, and Kings, the oldest cab firm in Burnley, run by Ali Khan.

The taxi industry in Burnley is booming. With over 35 cab companies, and some charging as little as £1.50 fares, it means it’s often easier to call a cab than a bus.

Cabs play a crucial role in connecting up the city. The residents of Burnley live in communities divided by ethnicity, rarely mixing together, with cabbies running like arteries through the city, connecting the separate communities together, often running the gauntlet to no-go areas at night, where sometimes they are subjects to casual racism, verbal insults and attacks.

It’s the drivers who see the real Burnley and who are on the frontline. The casual racism the drivers are subjected to has left them isolated, insular and despairing of the police, who some of them accuse of turning a blind eye.

The film hears from both white and Asian communities and examine why this town is so fractured.

Channel: BBC1

Producer: Firecracker Films

TX: TBC

Source: BBC press release