The three-part series is based on five years of research into the events leading up to, during and after the Grenfell Tower fire, including extensive interviews with the people affected.
In the early hours of 14 June 2017, a fire broke out at Grenfell Tower. The 24-storey residential block, located in North Kensington, was soon enveloped by flames, accelerated by combustible cladding that ran up the outside of the tower.
When the fire was extinguished 60 hours later, 70 people had lost their lives – with two more passing away in hospital later. A further 70 had been injured.
It was and remains one of the greatest tragedies in modern UK history, made worse by the fact that each and every one of the deaths associated with the fire has since been deemed avoidable. But why did this tragedy happen in the first place? And how can we ensure something like this doesn’t happen again?
Those are the questions set to be answered by the new BBC factual drama Grenfell, which will draw on five years of research to provide a comprehensive account of the events leading up to, during and after the fire.
You may also like
Grenfell Tower timeline: what has happened over the last 5 years?
Led by writer-director Peter Kosminsky and associate producer Ahmed Peerbux, the series is based on a collection of public sources, inquiry hearings and extensive interviews conducted with those impacted by or involved with the tragedy in some way.
Told from multiple perspectives, the three-part drama promises to “shine a light” on the human stories behind the fire, exploring the impact the events of June 2017 had on the survivors, the families and the loved ones of those whose lives were lost and the wider community, as well as the firefighters who were on duty that night.
Speaking about the thought process behind the new drama, Kosminsky explained: “Occasionally, events occur in our national story which touch us all. The fire at Grenfell Tower is such an event. We remember what we were doing when we heard about it, remember the pictures, the saturation coverage. And yet, despite this, despite the many newspaper pages and TV hours devoted to the story, we may be left with a less than clear sense of exactly what happened, what went wrong.
“In our drama, we attempt to pick our way through hours of public testimony, as well as original interviews conducted by our team, to reach the heart of this catastrophe: how such a thing can have happened; how we can avoid it ever happening again.”
Peerbux added: “We have been working on this drama for more than five years now, and it is only right that such a terrible event, seared into the national psyche, should be approached with rigour and not rushed.
“We are immensely grateful to the men and women who have shared their stories with us, and let us into their lives – we couldn’t possibly hope to honour their experiences without the time and trust they have given us.”
While we don’t yet know when Grenfell will hit screens, we do know it’ll air on BBC One and BBC iPlayer – and we’ll keep our eyes peeled for any updates.
Image: Getty
Source: Read Full Article