The three episode drama Four Lives, which documents the true life story of how four gay men were murdered by Stephen Port was shown on BBC One over three nights on January 3rd – 5th, 2022. I found it compelling, but harrowing and heartbreaking.
Below you will find an extract from Wikipedia, a TV review by Lucy Mangan of The Guardian – she gives it just three stars stating, “the drama never catches fire. It is doomed perhaps by the extremity of the police failures”, a YouTube clip and extracts from reports in PinkNews and BBC News:
Source: WikipediaQuote:
Four Lives is a television series, first aired from 3 to 5 January 2022 on BBC One. It follows the true story of the families of four young gay men (Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor) who were murdered by Stephen Port. Facing failings by the Metropolitan Police, they fought for justice for their loved ones.[1][2][3] Stephen Merchant plays serial killer Port[4] with Sheridan Smith as Sarah Sak, the mother of Anthony Walgate, Port's first victim . . .
For the full article see: The GuardianQuote:
TV review Television
Four Lives review – truly damning TV about those who are meant to protect and serve
Stephen Merchant and Sheridan Smith star in the BBC’s mind-boggling story of the murders by serial killer and rapist Stephen Port … and the egregious police failures that followed
⭐⭐⭐
Lucy Mangan
@LucyMangan
Mon 3 Jan 2022 22.00 GMT Last modified on Mon 3 Jan 2022 22.49 GMT
We’re getting to the point, surely, where television drama could be named the sixth estate. In the last year alone, we have had Deceit, probing the police ethics around the Rachel Nickell investigation, Frank Cottrell-Boyce’s Stephen, about the ongoing mishandling of the Stephen Lawrence case, Jimmy McGovern’s look at the prison system’s failures in Time, and Jack Thorne’s Help, telling, almost in real time, the story of care homes abandoned by government policy and the inhabitants left for dead as a result. All brought terrible injustices by those supposedly sworn to uphold the law and protect us – risibly old-fashioned though such phrases feel – to greater public prominence, and hopefully add to the pressure for holding to account those whose dereliction of duty at best, and corruption at worst, does society so much harm. Anne, a drama about the mother who fought through police denials and obstructions for the eventual unlawful killings verdict for the Hillsborough victims, is currently airing. And there are surely more in the works – perhaps on the murders of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman and the two officers sent to guard the scene, who took photos and shared the images on WhatsApp, or the murder by another officer of Sarah Everard (possibly including the breaking up of a peaceful vigil for her thereafter). The thin blue line refuses to run unerringly straight . . .
https://youtu.be/rDlDkTiH-1E
Attachment 12086
Grindr serial killer Stephen Port. (Metropolitan Police)
News reports published by PinkNews and BBC News on how the failings of the Metropolitan Police in London contributed to the deaths of three gay men follows:
For the full article see: PinkNewsQuote:
Grindr serial killer Stephen Port and the horrific murder spree that shocked a nation
LILY WAKEFIELD and MAGGIE BASKA January 3, 2022
The crimes of Stephen Port, who murdered four young men, and police failings to investigate the deaths have left a lasting legacy of fear on the UK’s LGBT+ community.
Port murdered at least four young men – Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor – over a 16 month-long campaign of terror that gripped Britain’s LGBT+ community between 2014 and 2015.
He targeted his victims on queer dating apps, drugged, raped and killed them before disposing of their bodies near his home in East London.
The Central Criminal Court sentenced Port to life in prison in 2016 . . .
For the full report see: BBC NewsQuote:
Stephen Port: How Met failings contributed to the deaths of three men
By Daniel De Simone
BBC News
Published 10 December 2021
Inquests for the four victims of Stephen Port have exposed how failings by the Metropolitan Police contributed to the deaths of three men.
Port killed four gay men - Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor - between June 2014 and September 2015. For the first time, during the inquests, the Met Police responses to the deaths were fully revealed.
Here is the story of what happened . . .
