ITV is showing the powerful ‘Hillsborough’ docudrama again tonight

In a late change to its schedule, ITV will air a repeat of the award-winning one-off drama Hillsborough tonight (Sunday, May 1).

The 1996 docudrama is based on the real life tragedy in which 96 people lost their lives at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest played at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield.

The powerful drama, written by Jimmy McGovern and starring Christopher Eccleston and Ricky Tomlinson, follows three families, from their initial joy at getting tickets for the fateful 1989 game, to the disaster itself, and the subsequent emotional and legal struggles that followed.

As the families try to come to terms with their losses and fight for justice, police evidence goes missing and further questions arise.

When it first aired 20 years ago, Hillsborough caused a lot of controversy with its allegations of police misconduct and a cover-up – allegations which have, of course, since been proven.

Via Granada/YouTube

But it was a vital piece of British TV drama because, as ITV News points out, it was “credited with giving the impetus to the families’ campaigning which finally led to a change”.

Campaigner Jenni Hicks told ITV: “This drama documentary was about getting the truth out there, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s exactly what it did.”

Hillsborough won three Bafta awards in 1997 (Best Single Drama, Best Editing and Best Sound), and has been re-broadcast on ITV on three other significant occasions: on the 10th and 20th anniversaries of the disaster in 1999 and 2009, and in September 2012 after the report by the Hillsborough independent panel was published.

Hillsborough is airing this weekend following the momentous inquest jury verdicts proving that the 96 fans were unlawfully killed and that fan behaviour did not contribute to their deaths.

Hillsborough, ITV, Sunday May 1 at 10.20pm.