BBC announces Grenfell factual drama to tell story of 2017 tragedy
Wolf Hall's Peter Kosminsky will write and direct the three-part factual drama based on five years of research.
The BBC has announced new series Grenfell, a factual drama about the 2017 West London fire that killed 72 people.
Written and directed by Peter Kosminsky, the three-parter is set to dramatise the Grenfell Tower fire, drawing on five years of research from public sources, inquiry hearings and extensive interviews to give "a comprehensive account of the events leading up to, during and after the devastating fire".
Told from multiple perspectives, Grenfell will focus on the human stories of those affected by the tragedy, from survivors and families of those whose lives were lots, to firefighters and the wider community.
The Grenfell high-rise fire took place on 14th June 2017, caused by an electrical fault in a fridge on the building's fourth floor, and resulted in the deaths of 72 people, making it the worst UK residential fire since World War II.
The Grenfell Tower Inquiry, looking into the circumstances leading up to and surrounding the fire, is expected to report its findings later this year.
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Speaking about the project, Kosminsky said: "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," he continued. "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."
Kosminsky added that the drama will pick through "hours of public testimony" and original interviews "to reach the heart of this catastrophe".
Meanwhile, Director of BBC Drama, Lindsay Salt, said that Grenfell will "utilise drama's unique ability to sensitively and respectfully show the human side of what happened" and address "many unanswered questions that remain".
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Writer-director Kosminsky is best known for his work on Wolf Hall, Channel 4's The Undeclared War and 2017 drama The State.
The BBC is yet to announce the cast for Grenfell, however the broadcast will release further details in due course.
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