The Caribbean’s rich but troubling colonial past is all around you in Jamaica – if you dig a little deeper.
Matt Charlton - 20 August 2026
High degress of caution is currently advised by the UK Government when travelling to Jamaica – which very much fits the mood of Possession, Sky’s supernatural thriller concluding this week. (You’re very unlikely, however, to be haunted and stalked by the ghosts of the island’s colonial past. Not in a literal sense anyway.)
Exploring colonialism is rarely the first thing on anyone’s to-do list on touching down at Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport, but I’ve decided to balance the idea of an island known for being a chilled-out tropical paradise with its rich yet troubling history, a past it shares with nearly all the colonised Caribbean islands.
Possession is a bold, genre-bending series that confronts the legacy of colonialism, blending mystery with the vibrant, restless energy of the Caribbean. And though restless energy is something I’ll struggle to match in this thick heat, I’ll endeavour to meet the other adjectives.
Away from the beach-side resorts – Negril’s seven-mile beach or an all-inclusive in the Montego Bay area – you can base yourself more in the thick of things, in downtown Kingston, the island’s capital, where Bob Marley souvenirs and dancehall music are ever-present.
By happy coincidence, the hotel where Claudia – the lead character portrayed by Gugu Mbatha-Raw – chooses to rest her weary head is available to you, too: ROK Hilton (hilton.com/en/hotels/kinocup-rok-hotel-kingston) overlooks the Waterfront and is steps from the National Gallery of Jamaica (nationalgalleryofjamaica.wordpress.com).
This part of Kingston is distinctly tourist-friendly – the redeveloped, business-orientated waterfront set against the backdrop of colonial buildings and sunbaked crowds.
From here, you’re a little away from the big hitters of the city (the cast stayed at the more central Courtleigh Hotel; courtleigh.com) – but outside an organised tour, a great start would be a taxi to Emancipation Park.
This six-acre slice of green in the middle of the capital commemorates the end of slavery in the British and French Caribbean, and it’s where you’ll find the moving sculpture Redemption Song, named after the Marley hit.
Talking of whom, a six-minute taxi ride from the park gets you to the Bob Marley Museum (bobmarleymuseum.com). His old house has been converted into a shrine – with gift shop – for Jamaica’s most famous son.
Further afield, and still wondering how I’ll find time to use the hotel pool, I tick off a few more of the locations used in Possession by visiting Port Royal, to which you can charter tours from the hotel concierge.
It was founded and colonised by the Conquistadors, bless ’em, with the British taking over in 1655, the gravity only shifting – almost literally – to nearby Kingston when Port Royal was suddenly submerged after a massive earthquake in 1692.
Known during its heyday as “the Wickedest City on Earth”, Port Royal grew into the most prosperous (and therefore debauched) hub of the British West Indies.
Inevitably, it became a regular R&R layover for pirates, so much so it featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Most of it is under water now, because of that earthquake, and though it would be of little comfort to residents at the time, this does mean there are some great snorkelling tours to be had in the present day.
It’s the closest you’ll get to feeling like a pirate as you search for sunken treasure (though most of it is probably in the British Museum by now).
Back to the filming locations, however, and Fort Charles in Port Royal – built by the British to defend against the Spanish – has an excellent maritime museum and is a time capsule, having miraculously survived the earthquake largely intact.
The Old Gaol – again an earthquake survivor – is now a pharmacy, but you can still get a sense of the history beyond the ibuprofen.
We haven’t even reached the further-flung locations: Tulloch Estate, regarded as the cradle of the abolition of slavery, or the beach at Laughing Waters – also made famous in Dr No – but really I did need some pool (and reggae) time, and this is a surprisingly big island.
For a country whose mere mention conjures up the image of a palm tree, a beach, slow beats, lush rainforest and rum, Jamaica is an island of nuance and fine balance – between “fly and flop” poolside holidays and a rich history, between “feelin’ irie” (patois for all right) and a more aggravated underbelly, between celebrating its national heroes and marking a deeply troubled history.
It’s what makes it so vital and real, allowing the tourist to go as deep as they wish (within safe parameters, of course) into the more gnarly corners of “Jamrock”.
Just as Claudia goes down the rabbit hole of Jamaica’s past, it’s very much worth your time, too.
High degress of caution is currently advised by the UK Government when travelling to Jamaica – which very much fits the mood of Possession, Sky’s supernatural thriller concluding this week. (You’re very unlikely, however, to be haunted and stalked by the ghosts of the island’s colonial past. Not in a literal sense anyway.)
Exploring colonialism is rarely the first thing on anyone’s to-do list on touching down at Montego Bay’s Sangster International Airport, but I’ve decided to balance the idea of an island known for being a chilled-out tropical paradise with its rich yet troubling history, a past it shares with nearly all the colonised Caribbean islands.
Possession is a bold, genre-bending series that confronts the legacy of colonialism, blending mystery with the vibrant, restless energy of the Caribbean. And though restless energy is something I’ll struggle to match in this thick heat, I’ll endeavour to meet the other adjectives.
Away from the beach-side resorts – Negril’s seven-mile beach or an all-inclusive in the Montego Bay area – you can base yourself more in the thick of things, in downtown Kingston, the island’s capital, where Bob Marley souvenirs and dancehall music are ever-present.
By happy coincidence, the hotel where Claudia – the lead character portrayed by Gugu Mbatha-Raw – chooses to rest her weary head is available to you, too: ROK Hilton (hilton.com/en/hotels/kinocup-rok-hotel-kingston) overlooks the Waterfront and is steps from the National Gallery of Jamaica (nationalgalleryofjamaica.wordpress.com).
This part of Kingston is distinctly tourist-friendly – the redeveloped, business-orientated waterfront set against the backdrop of colonial buildings and sunbaked crowds.
From here, you’re a little away from the big hitters of the city (the cast stayed at the more central Courtleigh Hotel; courtleigh.com) – but outside an organised tour, a great start would be a taxi to Emancipation Park.
This six-acre slice of green in the middle of the capital commemorates the end of slavery in the British and French Caribbean, and it’s where you’ll find the moving sculpture Redemption Song, named after the Marley hit.
Talking of whom, a six-minute taxi ride from the park gets you to the Bob Marley Museum (bobmarleymuseum.com). His old house has been converted into a shrine – with gift shop – for Jamaica’s most famous son.
Further afield, and still wondering how I’ll find time to use the hotel pool, I tick off a few more of the locations used in Possession by visiting Port Royal, to which you can charter tours from the hotel concierge.
It was founded and colonised by the Conquistadors, bless ’em, with the British taking over in 1655, the gravity only shifting – almost literally – to nearby Kingston when Port Royal was suddenly submerged after a massive earthquake in 1692.
Known during its heyday as “the Wickedest City on Earth”, Port Royal grew into the most prosperous (and therefore debauched) hub of the British West Indies.
Inevitably, it became a regular R&R layover for pirates, so much so it featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Most of it is under water now, because of that earthquake, and though it would be of little comfort to residents at the time, this does mean there are some great snorkelling tours to be had in the present day.
It’s the closest you’ll get to feeling like a pirate as you search for sunken treasure (though most of it is probably in the British Museum by now).
Back to the filming locations, however, and Fort Charles in Port Royal – built by the British to defend against the Spanish – has an excellent maritime museum and is a time capsule, having miraculously survived the earthquake largely intact.
The Old Gaol – again an earthquake survivor – is now a pharmacy, but you can still get a sense of the history beyond the ibuprofen.
We haven’t even reached the further-flung locations: Tulloch Estate, regarded as the cradle of the abolition of slavery, or the beach at Laughing Waters – also made famous in Dr No – but really I did need some pool (and reggae) time, and this is a surprisingly big island.
For a country whose mere mention conjures up the image of a palm tree, a beach, slow beats, lush rainforest and rum, Jamaica is an island of nuance and fine balance – between “fly and flop” poolside holidays and a rich history, between “feelin’ irie” (patois for all right) and a more aggravated underbelly, between celebrating its national heroes and marking a deeply troubled history.
It’s what makes it so vital and real, allowing the tourist to go as deep as they wish (within safe parameters, of course) into the more gnarly corners of “Jamrock”.
Just as Claudia goes down the rabbit hole of Jamaica’s past, it’s very much worth your time, too.
Possession Thursday 9.00pm Sky Atlantic