Stephen (2021)

Watchseries; Coogan is very solid in this well made series on a landmark event in British policing history. Very powerful with strong supporting cast. Well worth watching.

Coogan is very solid in this well made series on a landmark event in British policing history. Very powerful with strong supporting cast. Well worth watching.

Stephen watchseries. Unlike the current amateur shambles that is Vigil, ITV offers this excellent absorbing based on life tale. STEPHEN is all the thing that Vigil isn't. It is well acted, has a good script and having an even greater gap, is really well directed.

Here all the characters behave in a believable manner and don't have predictable outbursts of mock outrage and unconvincing shrieking.

The pace is never forced, but unfolds naturally allowing all of the actors to have mature characters that drew you in, again the complete opposite of the frankly pathetic BBC series , you care about these people.

Top stuff ITV, you have shown the BBC how to produce good drama.

Brilliant drama. So well done. Need to see more from Steve Coogan.

STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning

In 2006, DCI Clive Driscoll (Steve Coogan) arrived at a decommissioned police station to hand over the keys to the property developer who brought it, only to discover contents in some filing cabinets relating to a cold case murder investigation in to the death of Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager knifed to death in a racist attack at a bus stop in London. Driscoll takes charge of a new investigation in to the case, placing greater emphasis on forensic evidence missed the first time round, and internal corruption within the Met, as well as forging a close relationship with Neville (Hugh Quarshie) and Doreen (Sharlene Whyte), Stephen's parents, who are placing all their faith in him at this second chance for justice.

During the summer of 2020, when the death of George Floyd kickstarted a global wave of anti-racism demonstrations, ITV took the chance to broadcast Paul Greengrass's 1999 docu-drama The Murder of Stephen Lawrence, giving everyone another chance to remember the story in authentic detail. Still fresh in the memory of those who saw it, they've fittingly been behind this follow up drama, picking up on events thirteen years later, detailing events in a freshly dramatised fashion.

In their unveiling of the production, ITV chose to show a weekly episode, drawing events out over three weeks, in a similar fashion the BBC took with their recent hit Jimmy McGovern drama Time. Unlike that, most people are aware of how the real life events panned out here, but the effect still leaves you eagerly anticipating the next instalment (if you don't watch all the episodes on ITV hub...I think.) Director Alrick Riley captures his scenes in a dull, grey light which fits the mood just fine. For someone who started out as a comedic actor, Coogan has certainly developed in to a commanding dramatic actor, carrying this with conviction.

It's a story which cannot leave the public consciousness, with new developments emerging all the time and further layers of corruption and decadence at the heart of society and institutions being peeled away as it goes along, and this is a fine production that highlights a brief glimmer of hope and justice within it. ****

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, so can say first hand 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 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 should be essential viewing for every school in London, along with its predecessor. It does shy not away from unveiling the rawness 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.