Death of England: What does it mean to be British?

After a summer when riots on our streets have provoked condemnation and consternation, what is the state of our nation?

It's a question tackled by the writers of 'Death of England', a trilogy of interconnected plays, following two Black and white working class families, grappling with what it means to be British amid conversations about race, class and immigration.

We spoke to lead actor Paapa Essiedu and writer/director Clint Dyer about the intersections between class and race in the UK.

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[TheInnocentRabbitofCaerbannog]

Meanwhile, in the UK:

Victim of infamous pkstni grmg gngs was censrd by a court last week after asking for her grpsts be dprtd from the UK.

The woman, who was absd when she was a ynglng, was told to remove the request from her victim statement.

[charlottet]

The first time I’ve heard anyone British say they learnt about the empire at school! What school did he go to I wonder

[Bungle-UK]

Asking foreigners what it means to be British 🤣🤣

[ScottishRoss]

Why does the vid ask about being ''British'' when the movie is about England? Should it not ask about being English?

[surfinbearbeats]

Why cant English people tell the difference between being English and British.

[Oharadannyabcdefg]

Why do black English people or black American people never talk about inter-African slabery ? Slavery was horrific. All slavery.

[aidanpower]

Why are people “vexed” about British slavery 200 years ago but don’t care about the slavery which is happening around the world today?

[nickadams]

I seriously doubt that kids were taught that the British Empire was the best Empire ever as is claimed here

[northeast]

What was the point of this. So what you saying is they dont feel like they are british how ??

[hourbee]

Calling people 'coconuts' is apparently just fine. And a two tier justice system does in fact exist.

[franckcolomb]

As a white, can i be considered British or is it reserved for others?

[judewarner]

Channel 4 News should be renamed Channel 4 Propaganda

[tudormiller]

What does it mean to be English, if you're talking about England ? 🤔

[veteranclips]

The Romans ruled for 400 years the Norman’s invaded the Dutch the the Germanic tribes & the Vikings & many more battles wars between Ireland Wales Scotland England, millions living poor in poverty with no money no food harsh cold wether, the people of these isles have had its people been slaughtered for thousands of years, now in 2024 we live with no Wars or battles & should be happy about that, it never gets mentioned 🙏🇬🇧

[billyo]

I doubt if any teacher would ask for an essay about the positive aspects of slavery unless he/she is some kind of rogue/unqualified teacher.

[beewa]

The positive aspects of slavery. For who?

[RichardX]

You can not be non white and English, Welsh or Scottish or even N. Irish, But you are British. British is an umbrella term which includes all the new arrivals who are very much British. English = Angle /Saxon. Welsh =celts so on . someone could be Black British, Indian British and so on

[roberthamilton]

English and British are completely different, if you don't know the difference, you are British at best.

[GrandpaVince]

Being a british means honoring are traditional values like are queen are food and are flag 🇦🇨

[VanderWolls]

Honestly we should throw the notion of "England" in the bin. The British peoples have been fully integrated for millenia. People of the neolithic age used to walk from the bottom of (what we now call Cornwall) up to the Scottish Highlands several times in their lives as part of chasing their hunting quarry. Anthopologists have long known this. We could have been considered one people from the start but then along came the Kings and Aristocrats, carved up the land and called it "theirs", then coaxed us to hate each other so we'd war over the land. This is literally how Scotland, England and Wales were invented - Our slavemasters squabbling over their money, not ours. People who believe in democracy should reject the history of Kings, and embrace the single British nation.