Another miniseries that came to my attention via the Guardian's top 100 shows of 2022 list, I was aware of this ITV series, but I usually avoid a story like this as I prefer to keep my entertainment light - but I did watch this, all the way though - and have thoughts about the worthiness of the situation and the effectiveness of the story.
Anne Williams (Maxine Peake) loses her son Kevin (Campbell Wallace) in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. For the next twenty years she campaigns tirelessly for someone to be held accountable for the deaths, against an establishment that seems eager to stick with the immediate, though flawed, conclusions that were drawn. The campaigning damaged her relationships with her family members but eventually won her, and the other families, some small measure of acknowledgement for what actually happened that day.
So, the performances in this really are top quality. Maxine Peake is brilliant and heart wrenching as we see her learn about what's happened, go through it all and become a steely and passionate campaigner. Stephen Walters plays her husband, and Kevin's stepfather who also goes through the death and who initially tries to keep the family together, in light of Anne's campaigning schedule, but ultimately the marriage ends up breaking down.
I do want to prefix what I am about to say by saying I 100% support the families involved in this and I think that the cover up of the response is one of the UK's most shameful situations - but it's not the most compelling narrative for a dramatic reconstruction. Essentially Anne, and the others, work on various establishment bodies and occasionally are buoyed by something, such as the Labour election win or the success of a case in Europe but are usually left disappointed by the outcome. As there is no clear resolution to this story in real life, and nobody has ever been convicted in relation to the disaster, the show can't actively make any one person into the villain.
Spectacularly well make, the show tells Anne's story really well, it's perhaps just a bit depressing that real life continues to let them down so badly.
Anne Williams (Maxine Peake) loses her son Kevin (Campbell Wallace) in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. For the next twenty years she campaigns tirelessly for someone to be held accountable for the deaths, against an establishment that seems eager to stick with the immediate, though flawed, conclusions that were drawn. The campaigning damaged her relationships with her family members but eventually won her, and the other families, some small measure of acknowledgement for what actually happened that day.
So, the performances in this really are top quality. Maxine Peake is brilliant and heart wrenching as we see her learn about what's happened, go through it all and become a steely and passionate campaigner. Stephen Walters plays her husband, and Kevin's stepfather who also goes through the death and who initially tries to keep the family together, in light of Anne's campaigning schedule, but ultimately the marriage ends up breaking down.
I do want to prefix what I am about to say by saying I 100% support the families involved in this and I think that the cover up of the response is one of the UK's most shameful situations - but it's not the most compelling narrative for a dramatic reconstruction. Essentially Anne, and the others, work on various establishment bodies and occasionally are buoyed by something, such as the Labour election win or the success of a case in Europe but are usually left disappointed by the outcome. As there is no clear resolution to this story in real life, and nobody has ever been convicted in relation to the disaster, the show can't actively make any one person into the villain.
Spectacularly well make, the show tells Anne's story really well, it's perhaps just a bit depressing that real life continues to let them down so badly.