Blood, Sweat and Sugar

Sugar is sweet, seductive, addictive – but built on human suffering. This two-part series reveals how an enticing luxury became the engine of a global system powered by slavery, exploitation and environmental destruction, a legacy still shaping the world today.

From the 19th-century slave plantations to modern refineries in the Dominican Republic, Brazil, Reunion, India, South Africa and Europe, the series traces how sugar fuelled colonial empires, drove some of the worst aspects of international trade and commerce, and left deep social and ecological scars that are still present in labour abuses and exhausted landscapes today.

Combining powerful testimony, rare archival material, expert interviews, and on-the-ground reporting, the series exposes the true cost of our centuries-long obsession with sugar, while at the same time spotlighting communities fighting to reclaim land, dignity and fair means of production.

The series asks a crucial question: have we ever really escaped the bitter curse behind the world’s sweetest commodity?