Small Axe: What you need to know about the Bafta-nominated series 28/04/2021, 11:01 am John Boyega as police officer and anti-racism reformer Leroy Logan in Sir Steve McQueen’s anthology series Small Axe (BBC/PA) Directed, written and created by Sir Steve McQueen, the Small Axe collection is made up of five original films which aired on the BBC in 2020. The films – Mangrove, Lovers Rock, Red, White and Blue, Alex Wheatle and Education – are set in the time period from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s, and each tells a story rooted in London’s West Indian community during that time frame.