Screenwriter whose brother was part of the Windrush generation to turn deportation scandal into BBC drama

Sitting in Limbo is believed to be broadcast in 2020

A screenwriter, whose brother came to the UK when he was eight years old as part of the Windrush generation, will turn his brother’s involvement in the Windrush scandal into a forthcoming BBC drama.

Stephen S Thompson will write Sitting in Limbo, which is inspired by the experiences of his older brother Anthony Bryan. Bryan, despite arriving in the UK in 1965, was told by the Immigration Office in 2016 that there was no record of his British citizenship and faced deportation if he did not provide evidence.

“As his brother, I saw what he went through first-hand,” Thompson told BBC News. “Anthony has been severely traumatised by the experience. I couldn't bear the idea that he had suffered in vain… For me, this is personal.”

Bryan was forced to leave his job, was unable to claim benefits and was detained as an illegal immigrant after he was unable to produce a passport. Of the 500,000 people known as the “Windrush generation”, who arrived in the UK from Caribbean countries between 1948 and 1971, many thousands of children travelled on their parents’ passports, and did not have documentation of their own.

Bryan was only told that there was no record of his citizenship when attempting to apply for his first passport in 2016.

In May, more than 80 MPs asked the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate the treatment of the Windrush generation and whether the implementation of the Conservatives’ hostile environment policies represented institutional racism.

Piers Wenger, controller of BBC Drama, said Bryan’s story was “incredibly important and one that needs to be told with urgency”. It will likely be broadcast next year.