Mrs Mandela

BBC

BBC Four

On 11 February 1990, Nelson Mandela emerged from prison after 27 years of captivity, holding the hand of his wife Winnie. It was one of the defining moments of recent history, and Mandela has since become an icon of peace, tolerance and victory over oppression.

But what of the woman whose hand he held?

The film flashes back to a time when things were very different – when Winnie and Nelson first meet. They marry after a brief courtship, but Nelson is soon forced to go underground. His subsequent imprisonment leaves the beautiful young Winnie to fend for herself. These desperate times somehow give her the strength to become the woman that the apartheid state must try to destroy.

Mrs Mandela weaves through time and history, exploring moments from the Fifties to 1990, to get to the emotional core of this remarkable yet highly controversial woman. She drew on massive inner resources to steel herself against the brutality of the apartheid state, but did her experiences create a well of pain and bitterness that kindled a darker side in her personality?

 Sophie Okonedo is Winnie Mandela, David Harewood is Nelson Mandela and David Morrissey plays police interrogator Theunis Swanepoel.

Mrs Mandela is on BBC Four at 9.00pm on 25 January 2010.