The murder that changed a nation. You’re guaranteed to be talking about this.
While we’re accustomed to the likes of Netflix and HBO making excellent documentaries, it’s easy to overlook some of the superb filmmaking talent that’s closer to home. In recent weeks, Patrick Kielty’s documentary on The Troubles and The Good Friday Agreement was excellent and the BBC are hoping to continue this trend with one of their most ambitious features in years.
In Stephen: The Murder That Changed a Nation, the critically-acclaimed filmmakers Asif Kapadia and James Gay-Rees – they produced the superb Oasis documentary Supersonic and made the utterly brilliant Senna and the Oscar-winning Amy – will plunge viewers into the story of Britain’s most notorious racially-motivated murder.
Directed by James Rogan, the three-part series will tell the story of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager who was murdered at a bus stop by a group of six white youths in an unprovoked attack.
Failures in the police investigation meant that his killers walked free. Stephen’s parents, Doreen and Neville Lawrence, took up the fight for justice for their murdered son and this three-part series is the definitive account of a loving family, and a grieving mother, who simply would not take ‘no’ for an answer.
Ultimately, Stephen’s family took on the establishment and forced it to change.
The series charts 25 years of Doreen Lawrence’s struggle for justice through all its twists and turns; the police investigations, dramatic interventions from Nelson Mandela and the press, revelations of institutional racism in the police and suspicions of corruption, bringing us right up to the present day in a case that remains active, with many questions still unanswered.
The documentary is told through the eyes of the people who have been directly involved, from the family (Doreen and Neville Lawrence) and Stephen’s friend who was with him on the night (Duwayne Brooks) to the police (former Police Commissioner Lord Paul Condon and Police Commissioner Cressida Dick) and politicians (Jack Straw and Theresa May).
At the heart of the series is Stephen, the 18-year-old who was killed because of the colour of his skin. Never-before-seen footage and photos of Stephen, along with testimony from his family, friends and neighbours help to capture for the first time the devastating tragedy of that fateful night 22nd April 1993.
Stephen: The Murder That Changed a Nation, starts Tuesday 17th April at 9pm on BBC One.
Don’t miss it.
