Four Lives

Grim true life crime told sympathetically with credible performances all round, of four family's fight for justice. Sheriden Smith and Stephen Merchant both looking very comfortable in their roles. You're left with equal measures of anger at the perpetrator of the horrific crimes and the incredible incompetence of the police.

Four Lives is an incredibily accurate drama documentary that tells the story of what would become known in the media as The Barkingside Murders or Grinder Serial Killer. The killer in question preying on young men via gay dating apps and giving them too much GHB (also known as the date rape drug) to enable him to assault them.

The real story here though is the absolute bungling of the police investigation. Lessons from Lawrence had clearly not been learned and such familiar mistakes were further compounded by a poor approach towards LGBT sensitivities, a failure of due care towards the victims families and any effort to do the most basic of policework.

This story could not have been told in a single film, nor even as a two parter and somehow three still feels a little indequate but this essential story was well structured and gives great insight into the terrible blunders made by the police that will literally leave you screaming at the television.

Here it is the quality of the writing that stands out from the outset, as adequate screen time is given to each of the four young men who ultimately became Port's victims, so we feel invested in their lives and their futures. Equally we feel the loss by their friends, relatives and lovers. The show has a number of stand out performances including several from the lesser well known cast, among those which deserve special mention are: Rufus Jones (who you will reconogize as he never stops working) Samuel Barnett, Jimmy Bradshaw, Paddy Rowan, Michael Jibson and Ella Kenion bring some of the smaller roles to life with great skill, while Sheridan Smith, Holly Aird and Jamie Winston fill the shoes of the more meaty roles with their usual gutsy portrayals. The real stand out performance here though is Stephen Merchant as Port, whom I expect we will see a great deal more of in serious roles after this. The one moment in the show where he chooses to smile is truly chilling. Roberts Emms also gives a very emotive and raw performance as the partner of one of the deceased. The visit by the Police to his home is a scene which is hard to digest but one for which he brings a really visceral poignancy with his performance.

Four Lives is not an easy watch, and having watched both this and Anne practically back to back two days in a row, I felt something of an emotional wreck by the end of that journey. This show leaves you feeling angry towards the police by the end of it and really demonstrates, sadly, the days when you could just trust them to do their job are a distant memory. Hopefully this programme will reinforce to them the lessons that should have been learned from this story. An outstanding piece of drama and a credit to all involved.

This is the kind of cop show we should see more often. In short, Four Lives is about cops NOT solving a series of murders. In fact, they not only fail to solve the crimes, they fail to even acknowledge that crimes have been committed. They fail to recognise the bumbling culprit whose cack-handed attempts at covering his tracks are entirely successful. They fail to see the most obvious of links between the four deaths. They even fail utterly at family liaison, thereby exacerbating people's grief and distress. It's a tale of incompetence, arrogance and homophobia that some viewers might find truly staggering. But as a former journalist I can attest that the cops in Four Lives are much closer to the vast majority of real-life cops than any of the TV detectives depicted in series after series, decade after decade. Pick almost any real life murder case and you're far more likely to uncover examples of prejudiced, lazy or less-than-bright cops making endless mistakes, corrupting crime scenes, missing evidence and blindly pursuing the wrong killer. All of which makes Four Lives a long overdue exercise in balance. Well done.

Anyone watching this adaptation of a terribly botched investigation by the Met Police must first and foremost think of the four young men who lost their lives to this monster and to the friends and family still mourning their loss.

The writers correctly took a respectful approach to honestly retelling the stories of the four young men accurately without adding melodrama or sensationalising.

It was very well made in all departments with strong understated performances from Sheridan Smith and Stephen Merchant in particular and some great work from many of the supporting actors.

Powerful and moving television that left me angry and in tears.

Very good drama based on a recent true story

Excellent performance as per usual by Sheridan Smith and the surprise package of Stephen Merchant as the evil Port.