Who better than Michael Apted to tell the story of famed abolitionist William Wilberforce? Apted is a prolific writer, director, and producer who has helmed such classics as Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, and Thunderheart. Most notably, Apted is also the creative force behind the Up! documentary series that follows a group of British boys and girls as they become men and women and follow or subvert their class roles.

William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was another British citizen who defied the expectations of his class. The son of a wealthy merchant, Wilberforce attended prep schools and was elected a member of parliament at the age of twenty. Welsh actor Ioan Gruffud (of A&E’s Horatio Hornblower series) portrays the firebrand politician with charm, wit and zeal. Undaunted by the boys’ club atmosphere amongst his colleagues, Wilberforce is recognized early in his career as a man of great integrity and courage. A life-altering meeting with an ex-slave inspires the evangelical paliamentarian to confront the dehumanizing slave trade, an economic force so vital to the Establishment that it forces him into a fierce conflict with the most powerful people in the nation.

Director Apted fills the screen with period detail and tremendous performances, including Benedict Cumberbatch as Wilberforce’s friend and future British Prime Minister William Pitt, Rufus Sewell as the passionate abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, and the lovely Romola Garai as spirited political compatriot Barbara Spooner. Allied with Wilberforce is John Newton (Albert Finney), a former slave ship captain who witnessed the horrors of slavery first hand, became a minister, and dedicated his life to ending the slave trade in Britain. Newton wrote a hymnal about his own religious conversion which became the title of the film: Amazing Grace.