Roots TV Mini Series

I have been watching the latest Roots TV Mini Series and I've enjoyed it. There is one major flaw though and that is where the slave 'Chicken' George Lea is sold to cover gambling debts and goes to England to train other cockfighters. He then returns as a slave to the USA (evidently so but I've only seen up to where he gets sold on, and spoilers).

WRONG. This could not happen. The moment 'Chicken' George set foot on English soil he'd be free. By the time depicted in the drama the slave trade had been banned by the British, and cases prior to that had already resolved that there was no such thing as a slave on English soil.

See Somerset v Stewart 1771. Slavery was unsupported by both statute and common law in England and Wales - end of. Moreover, slavery has never been legal on English soil. Can you Americans get that into your skulls. Never ever. In the colonies, always a grey area, England NO.

Abolitionists would have freed 'Chicken' George had he been in England.

Now I haven't seen the whole series, it wraps up next week in NZ. We'll see how this pans out but so far I'm calling Bullshit, the Yanks have simply got this wrong wrong wrong, and if Alex Haley wrote this in his novel then he's a blaggard.

[Edit to add: I've seen the final and yes, they've got 'Chicken' George a slave in England, but after 20 years he is able to buy his freedom and he returns to America a free man. The only problem with this is that in reality he'd be free as soon as his feet touched English soil. But all said and done, I still enjoyed the series even with this flaw. Anna Paquin was underused too, shame that]