Few murders in the UK have had as much publicity of that of Stephen Lawrence, a young black man travelling home from a friends house who was murdered in a racist motivated brutal attack by five white youths.
Stephen is a sequel to the 1999 'The Murder of Stephen Lawrence' directed by Michael Winterbottom, which covered the murder itself. It's focus covered the corruption, institutional racism, horrendous foul ups and mistakes (some deliberate) that followed the case which allowed Stephen's murderers to go free. It was a solid film, visceral in its telling, ending with the suspects facing the public wrath as they left the 1998 public inquiry into how the case was handled.
Now comes 'Stephen', a three part drama series written by Frank Cotteral Boyce, which picks up the new investigation in 2006, run by volunteer DI Driscoll (Steve Coogan) who still comes up against internal politics that dogged the old investigation. Stephen's parents, long since divorced, (Hugh Quarshie, reprising his role as Neville Lawrence & Sharlene Whyte as Doreen Lawrence) are both extremely skeptical. Soon modern forensic techniques and missed evidence comes to light that might lead to conviction, Driscoll is determined to get the right results for the parents.
Any true story, especially one about a subject as important as this landmark case, needs to be handled not only with great care, but thoroughly researched and told truthfully. The recent Channel 4 effort, Deceit, set in a similar genre was riddled with inaccuracies and a misjudged agenda which robbed it of any credibility. Fortunately, on the strength of the first episode alone, I can tell this production has been handled with great care to ensure the material was handled properly from the outset and the correct narratives and characters were placed at the forefront of the story.
All the cast are first rate, and having met both Neville & Doreen Lawrence myself, I can say the actors have captured them perfectly. Their voices are almost identical to their counterparts, and they both underplay the their scenes with the appropriate measures of restraint at every turn. I must also make special mention of Mr Coogan, who really created a character for Driscoll and ensured he was not comparable to any of his other more well known characters. I am certain there will be completely undeserved jibes at him but had we never seen him in anything else, I cannot see how anyone can rate his performance as anything but extremely authentic and truthful.
This is an extremely important series, exploring the loss of a child and the compassion that was lacking from one of the countries most important organisations. I would add it should be essential viewing for every school in London, along with its predecessor. It does shy not away from unveiling the raw impact of the fallout damage the case has caused for so many, especially Stephen's parents. This production is an outstanding achievement to everyone who worked on it. Highly recommended.
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