Soul Nation C4 Tue 17 June

Soul Nation DJ Trevor Nelson takes us on a personal journey of Soul

Channel 4 Tuesday 17 June 11.10pm 2003

Soul Nation You Know You Got Soul

In this three-part series, DJ Trevor Nelson takes us on a personal journey, mining his own past as well as 50 years of underground culture, to present his take on how Soul has influenced Britain, and how Britain has in turn contributed to the history of R&B. In the first programme, Trevor explores how Britain first fell in love with R&B - much to the dismay of the authorities - and how white kids fought to keep it alive through the 70s Northern Soul scene. But it was in London that British soul was truly born. Trevor meets many of the stars from this unique and exciting time - Hi-Tension, India Irie, Norman Jay and Imagination's Lee John, the people who helped create a new era in British music.

Programme two - describes Jazz Funk and the Southern Soul underground, a scene that produced the first wave of UK soul stars in the early 80s and the warehouse stars (most notably Soul II Soul) at the end of the decade. Trevor talks to pivotal figures such as Jazzy B, Robert Elms, Mick Hucknall and Pete Waterman - and reflects on how an illegal network of pirate radio stations and warehouse parties was responsible for keeping black music alive in Britain until its eventual crossover ten years ago.

In the final programme, Trevor charts British Soul's move to dominate the mainstream in the 1990s: the new record labels, the first million pound contracts, the false dawn of Nu Soul, the rebirth of pirate radio and British R&B's emerging identity as UK Garage. In conversation with stars such as Ms Dynamite, Craig David and So Solid Crew he explores how, thanks to the dance revolution of the last 15 years, British urban music is now the sound of multicultural Britain made flesh.