First Broadcast: 7.30PM Fri 12 March 2010

When Mark Rossiter's family left South Africa in 1986, the country was segregated along racial lines in every conceivable way. Black people were denied basic human rights and classified as second-class citizens.

At the same time however, roughly a million African women worked for white people and often became surrogate members of their families. Some of the women were not trusted with the family valuables yet paradoxically put in charge of caring for babies, and white children came to form intimate emotional attachments to women who were considered inferior by society.

Mark's family were liberal white South Africans, but even they benefitted from apartheid through lives of privilege and convenience. His nanny Susan was significant and anonymous at the same time; now Mark returns to South Africa, determined to find the woman who brought him up for 10 years.

He wants to find out what has happened to her in the new South Africa, and to reconcile his own childhood memories of growing up under apartheid.

Armed with just a 25-year-old photograph and Susan's first name, Mark embarks on a journey that takes him from the comfort of the predominantly white suburbs to the poverty-ridden townships to discover what life was like for black women working as servants in white homes.

    1. Fri 12 Mar 2010

      When Mark Rossiter's family left South Africa in 1986, the country was segregated along racial lines in every…

MORE:

  • The Miracle Baby of Haiti

    The Miracle Baby of Haiti

    1 Episode

    The story of Landina Seignon - the baby pulled from the rubble of the Haiti earthquake in January and brought to the UK for specialist surgery - and the attempt to reunite her with her mother

  • Road to Las Vegas

    Road to Las Vegas

    1 Episode

    Jason Massot's moving film follows African American couple Vanessa and Maurice Melton as they leave Alaska for Las Vegas in search of their fortunes

  • The Laughing Club of India

    The Laughing Club of India

    1 Episode

    A look at the power of laughter, and the popularity of laughing clubs in contemporary Bombay - part of a movement that now has over 6000 clubs in 60 countries

  • The Lost Boys

    The Lost Boys

    1 Episode

    Moving, and occasionally very funny, documentary that follows the attempts of orphaned refugee boys from Sudan to relocate in the world's richest country - the USA

  • I Am Slave

    I Am Slave

    1 Episode

    Inspired by real-life events, drama I Am Slave, is the extraordinary tale of one woman's fight for freedom from modern-day slavery - a powerful story of imprisonment, cruelty and despair, but also one of hope and humanity

  • A baby sitting on a lawn with two couples standing behind

    Born with Two Mothers

    1 Episode

    A provocative drama about an IVF mix-up which results in a white woman giving birth to a black boy

  • Holiday Hijack

    Holiday Hijack

    6 Episodes

    Unsuspecting tourists are taken from their luxury resorts to experience the realities of life behind the glossy travel brochure

  • White Tribe

    White Tribe

    3 Episodes

    Darcus Howe travels the length and breadth of the country to discover why the English don't seem to want to be English anymore