Australia – Mini-series Roots will have its Australian subscription television premiere on FOX Classics in January 2009. Based on Alex Haley’s Pulitzer Prize winning best-seller, the 12 hour mini-series is the sweeping saga of his own family’s generations of struggle to survive slavery and regain freedom. The story begins with the birth of Kunta Kinte in West Africa in 1750. At 15, he is kidnapped by slave traders and shipped to America where he and his descendents face great hardship and oppression while holding on to their proud heritage. Roots was, and remains, the most-watched mini-series event ever – in the US alone, more than 130 million people tuned in to its premiere run over eight nights in January 1977. The final episode became the most watched TV show in the US to date, attracting a 71 per cent share in the Nielsen Ratings (meaning some 36.38 million households viewed). This has only been surpassed by the M*A*S*H finale and the Who Shot JR? episode of Dallas.