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Some might say that after the Jimmy McGovern drama on the Hillsborough football disaster there would be little more to add about the tragic events of that fateful day in April 1989 but not so. There are hundreds of stories about Hillsborough, from those who were directly impacted by the events of that day, to those who were subsequently effected by it later. The fight for justice and truth far exceeeded the narrative of the 1996 drama and in many ways still continues to this day. One of the key individuals who fought for justice for her son was Anne Williams, who lost her son, Kevin aged 15. Williams co-authoured a book about her experiences (When You Walk Through A Storm) but her campaigning for justice went far beyond that. She took her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Anne is the story of this incredible woman and I know she was incredible because I was lucky enough to meet her in person. Everything that she was is brilliantly brought to life in this drama by a tour de force performance by Maxine Peake. Her husband Steve (played by the hugely underated Stephen Walters, who also appeared as Ian Glover in the 1996 drama) is the perfect pairing oppositte her and fine casting on the part of the Casting Director. We follow their search for the truth which ultimately pulls their family apart. The production expertly recreates the scenes from that tragic day and all that followed in the wake of one of the worst catastrophes in the history of British football. The bigger horror of course was the way these individuals were treated and the extent to which the cover up permeated every element of the subsequent events. The film conveys these in a visceral way which takes you firmly back to all that those who lost someone experienced. It's raw and brutal and Walters and Maxine relive every moment of it as if they lived it themselves. The number 51 scene alone is Oscar worthy for both of these actors.

Anne Williams and her family are the people whose stories deserve to be told and I am so glad that a project which was no doubt tough to get funding, found a way to get made. People like Williams are the unsung heroes of humanity. Her like are the people who should be on the honours list. Ultimately she came to represent the best of us and this drama has done her justice. When her life became all about that same word - Justice. Producers, director, writers, cast and production team, you have done her proud. I will raise a glass to Anne and you all tonight. First rate superb drama.

The way ordinary working class people were treated by both the Police and Govt having lost their loved ones due to police mismanagement boardered on Evil. The rush by senior police officers to cover their own hides at the cost of the dead was nothing short criminal and the Newspapers were just as bad. The attempt to lay the blame for the deaths on the dead or surviving fans was Evil, however lets gets something straight I do not blame the rank and file police officers apart from the ones that lied to support the story put out by the polices PR machine. What those people did to the parents of the dead was disgusting, trying to cover their own asses, evil B'strds, these people are paid to protect the people. Now to the drama itself, the acting is top notch, understated but dramatic where needed. It must be very difficult to relay a story like this, you must show the grief but also the anger while being respectful to the deceased, not easy but this episode was spot on. I hold a special phrase for The Sun newspaper, Scumbags, from top to bottom and BTW not a lot has changed but for the fact most ppl catty a camera with them 24/7 so these ppl cannot get away with what they got away with back then, if they could they still would.

I really felt that this drama was handled in a very real and realistic way! The excellent acting from all the cast was balanced ,the contradictions came thick and fast and the approach from Kevin's mom;another excellent performance from Maxine Peake.

Anne Williams tragically loses her son in The Hillsborough disaster, and begins a lengthy process to get justice.

Part one is the real choker, it hits you hard, some of the descriptions, some of the footage, it is almost possible not to have tears in your eyes. The rest of it will move you, but also frustrate you, as you'll witness one of the worst cover ups in living memory.

I think they got the balance just right here, there are lots of tears as you'd expect from such a harrowing story, but there are also several positive moments throughout also.

I was none when the events happened, it feels like the first big tragedy I remember from my youth. Even to this day, the footage still shocks me.

Maxine Peake is tremendous as Anne, the last time I saw a performance this good, it was David Tennant as Des, I'd be surprised if she doesn't win awards for this. The whole cast are fantastic.

Seriously recommended, 10/10.

Some might say that after the Jimmy McGovern drama on the Hillsborough football disaster there would be little more to add about the tragic events of that fateful day in April 1989 but not so. There are hundreds of stories about Hillsborough, from those who were directly impacted by the events of that day, to those who were subsequently affected by it later. The fight for justice and truth far exceeded the narrative of the 1996 drama and in many ways still continues to this day. One of the key individuals who fought for justice for her son was Anne Williams, who lost her son, Kevin aged 15. Williams co-authoured a book about her experiences (When You Walk Through A Storm) but her campaigning for justice went far beyond that. She took her case to the European Court of Human Rights.

Anne is the story of this incredible woman and I know she was incredible because I was lucky enough to meet her in person. Everything that she was is brilliantly brought to life in this drama by a tour de force performance by Maxine Peake. Her husband Steve (played by the hugely underrated Stephen Walters, who also appeared as Ian Glover in the 1996 drama) is the perfect pairing opposite her and fine casting on the part of the Casting Director. We follow their search for the truth which ultimately pulls their family apart. The production expertly recreates the scenes from that tragic day and all that followed in the wake of one of the worst catastrophes in the history of British football. The bigger horror of course was the way these individuals were treated and the extent to which the cover-up permeated every element of the subsequent events. The film conveys these in a visceral way which takes you firmly back to all that those who lost someone experienced. It's raw and brutal and Walters and Maxine relive every moment of it as if they lived it themselves. The number 51 scene alone is Oscar-worthy for both of these actors.

Anne Williams and her family are the people whose stories deserve to be told and I am so glad that a project which was no doubt tough to get funding, found a way to get made. People like Williams are the unsung heroes of humanity. Her like are the people who should be on the honours list. Ultimately she came to represent the best of us and this drama has done her justice. When her life became all about that same word - Justice. Producers, director, writers, cast, and production team, you have done her proud. I will raise a glass to Anne and you all tonight. First-rate superb drama.

Summary: Anne - first rate, acting, direction, writing - the type of drama we should be making.

I was half expecting a watered down version of Anne Williams and her fight, along with other affected fans and families, but Maxine Peake knocked it out the park. Some of the stuff we've heard before, some never, like Lord Justice Stuart-Smiths appalling words to the bereaved families before determining his own views on new evidence. Right up until the end, Anne, you were a battler. #JFT97 #YNWA.

Growing up in Liverpool I've heard A lot about this disaster and the woman who started the campaign for justice for the victims.

But sadly she died years before the victims got justice. It great to see her story finally be told all these years later.

This was a heartbreaking watch. It was television drama at its very finest on every level. The story of Hillsborough has been told many times, but this drama took it to a new level. The pin-point attention to detail and the acting was of the highest calibre. One of ITV's finest productions in recent memory. They have done Anne Williams and the victims of Hillsborough proud.

Excellent portrayal of true life events that pulls on the heartstrings.

The story of a woman's fight for justice of the football fans who went to a game and never came home.

Anne is not about the Hillsborough disaster itself, it's about families of the victims fighting for justice. This show has given me sympathy towards victims of crowd crushes. It took me over two months to finish these four episodes owing to my busy schedule and this not being a suspensful show. During these two months, the Seoul Halloween crowd crush and Morbi bridge collapse occurred. I was saddened that such events still happen in real life despite being preventable.

The acting was good and Maxine Peake's performance was commendable. The series was repetitive and frustrating, as I'm sure the families of the victims felt about the judicial process.

Truly moving and accurate account of this travesty of justice. Great cast and production add to the poignancy and I'm full of admiration for Anne and the Hillsborough support groups and, not least, for Andy Burnham for taking up the cudgels.

A very important contribution to the Hillsborough story and I think very stimulating viewing even if , like me, you have little interest in the beautiful game.

Another miniseries that came to my attention via the Guardian's top 100 shows of 2022 list, I was aware of this ITV series, but I usually avoid a story like this as I prefer to keep my entertainment light - but I did watch this, all the way though - and have thoughts about the worthiness of the situation and the effectiveness of the story.

Anne Williams (Maxine Peake) loses her son Kevin (Campbell Wallace) in the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. For the next twenty years she campaigns tirelessly for someone to be held accountable for the deaths, against an establishment that seems eager to stick with the immediate, though flawed, conclusions that were drawn. The campaigning damaged her relationships with her family members but eventually won her, and the other families, some small measure of acknowledgement for what actually happened that day.

So, the performances in this really are top quality. Maxine Peake is brilliant and heart wrenching as we see her learn about what's happened, go through it all and become a steely and passionate campaigner. Stephen Walters plays her husband, and Kevin's stepfather who also goes through the death and who initially tries to keep the family together, in light of Anne's campaigning schedule, but ultimately the marriage ends up breaking down.

I do want to prefix what I am about to say by saying I 100% support the families involved in this and I think that the cover up of the response is one of the UK's most shameful situations - but it's not the most compelling narrative for a dramatic reconstruction. Essentially Anne, and the others, work on various establishment bodies and occasionally are buoyed by something, such as the Labour election win or the success of a case in Europe but are usually left disappointed by the outcome. As there is no clear resolution to this story in real life, and nobody has ever been convicted in relation to the disaster, the show can't actively make any one person into the villain.

Spectacularly well make, the show tells Anne's story really well, it's perhaps just a bit depressing that real life continues to let them down so badly.

I'm a huge fan of Maxine Peake - and have enjoyed everything I've seen her in, regardless of genre. This is the exception that proves the rule, I suppose, because her excellent acting couldn't salvage much here.

The horror and injustice of Hillsborough and the difficulty the victims and their families had in getting justice seems like a great topic for a mini-series, but nevertheless, it's a terrible mini-series. The script is flat, leaving the actors little to work with. Too much time is given to Anne's extreme distress in the first episode at the expense of any other dramatic action. Stephen Walters, as Anne's husband, also makes an excellent job of his characterisation - as far as the script allows it - but the poor guy doesn't really have much in the way of lines, or scenes, to work with. It's like the age of silent film all over again.

The film drags from episode to episode with many slightly under-lit scenes where everything seems gray, but the script is still the dullest thing in the room.

When my wife suggested that we watch this four-part ITV drama from earlier this year, I wasn't sure if I was up to it, knowing that it would be a tough watch, documenting as it does the struggles of Liverpool mother, Anne Williams, to achieve justice for all the 96, later 97 victims of the Hillsborough football disaster in 1989, whose number tragically included her own fifteen year-old son Kevin who she'd only reluctantly allowed to attend the game.

Not only did all the relatives have to undergo the shock and loss of their loved ones at what was a national sporting event, an F. A. Cup semi-final, they were all led by the authorities to believe that the victims had all died by 3.15, fifteen minutes after the game had kicked off and worse still that the conduct of the supposedly out-of-control drunken fans on the day had contributed to what was officially pronounced the "accidental death" of all the deceased.

But at their son's own inquest, Anne and her second husband, her children's stepdad, encounter a serving policeman who had tried to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to their son around 3.30 which clearly contradicted the official version of events. This sets Anne on a path of determining the exact circumstances of her son's last minutes and leads to her horrific discovery that if he and several others of the deceaed could have had access to the prompt medical treatment they should have had by right, over forty of them could possibly have survived. She then tracks down an off-duty health worker who actually helped carry her son out of the crush and onto the pitch and a woman who heard him utter the word "Mum" again, just before he died, well after the official 3.15 time of supposed death.

It takes time for her to find a way out of her grief but we see her eventually hook up with supportive people in authority including a female council officer with whom she strikes up a friendship and a sympathetic local lawyer to unceasingly probe for answers. Despite setback after setback from authority figures who either aren't or don't want to be convinced by the mounting evidence, she keeps on keeping on, pursuing whoever was the Home Secretary of the day, through changing governments, before finally achieving a breakthrough.

Tragically this by then had taken well over twenty years and in the interim cost her both her marriage and her health as she succumbs to cancer but at least she dies knowing that the Hillsborough victims were just that, victims and weren't in any material way and certainly not accidentally, the cause of their own deaths.

Maxine Peake rightly won acclaim for her committed performance as the untiring Williams, who by the end of the exhaustive process was recognised as the figurehead of the Justice for the 96 (later 97) tragic victims that day.

There are still outstanding issues today which will now likely go unanswered as to who was ultimately responsible for the terrible decision-making which turned a much anticipated football match into an infamous national disaster.

This was a story which deserved to be told and hopefully helped correct once and for all, any lingering misconceptions stoked by the gutter press as to what happened on that terrible day as well as documenting the unstinting effort and courage of one ordinary woman's determination to get to the truth.

A hard hitting adaptation of the incredible courage and tenacity of the Hillsborough survivors, families and friends.

Anyone who is not affected by the first episode of this series must be made of stone. Gut wrenching.

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

On the 15th of April 1989, Anne Williams (Maxine Peake) waves her fifteen year old son, Kevin (Campbell Wallace) goodbye, after agreeing to let him travel alone to the Nottingham Forest vs. Liverpool game in South Yorkshire, despite some reservations from herself and her partner Steve (Stephen Walters.) Hours later, they find themselves making the arduous journey to the Hillsborough stadium ground, after learning of a major disaster that's occurred there, before their worst nightmare is confirmed, and Kevin is announced as one of a number of fatalities the incident has claimed. After overcoming her devastation, Anne is galvanised into mounting a powerful campaign for justice, after learning her beloved son could have been saved if it weren't for the actions of a few.

The Hillsborough stadium tragedy wasn't just one of the biggest disasters in the history of English sports, it also went on to emerge as one of its biggest scandals, with horrifying revelations of lies and cover-ups, as well as collusion between the worlds of politics, media and the authorities to smear and discredit those most closely and personally affected by the disaster, with increasingly unsettling new layers emerging from the case as the years went by, and further actions were taken for accountability and justice. This ITV drama, from director Bruce Goodison and writer Kevin Sampson, attempts to humanise one of those affected, in the shape of Anne Williams, a mother who suffered the unimaginable agony of losing her son, and who has sadly since died.

Maxine Peake has a natural affinity playing these tough, working class women roles, and this is certainly no exception, portraying a mother forced to endure one of the worst fates imaginable, before being plunged in to a desperate hurdle for the most human of instincts for justice. Her scenes at the beginning, searching around the makeshift hospital beside the football ground, wading through a maze of misery and despair before brutally hearing the truth of her son, are truly heart wrenching. Throughout, her performance just never stops feeling wonderfully human, in the simplest of scenes to the most demanding, and it is this central force that guides it through, over four parts, complimented by some strong supporting performances.

Like the best true life dramas, it is sadly not the happiest of tales, and at times is quite uncomfortable, but it still tells an inspiring and relevant true life tale, that gives a human voice to one of those affected, sadly no longer here to speak for herself. *****

I am in bits watching this amazing drama of the outcome of the Hillsborough disaster. Maxine Peake is amazing, simply amazing: Maxine Peake who played Twinkle in Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies, as a moody, sarky, awkward, bolshie young lady with some of Victoria's best lines. But here she is absolutely fully convincing as Anne Williams, the distraught mother of her son, Kevin, who was killed at Hillsborough on that fateful day. The drama is riveting and convincing helped of course by the truth which has subsequently come to light regarding the attempted police cover up. The scene in ep2 with PCSO Martin is off the scale in terms of emotion.

An enormous , heart-breaking and complicated story is told with brilliant writing in a concise , clear and moving way .

The cast are magnificently understated , the superb music score adds tension , and the Direction is taut and emotional .

This film will deserve awards but it's greatest award is that it does Justice to the narrative for the families involved

I urge everyone to watch and discover the REAL story about Hillsborough .

An important and incredible story is ruined by a cast phoning-in performances that literally appear to be read from cue-cards.

None more than Maxine Peake who seems to be turning up and churning out.

I'm not an expert so I don't know if this is down to poor acting craft or poor direction but it's so frustrating.

A powerful & passionate drama based on a devastating event, what is more devastating is that justice is yet to prevail. Maxine Peake with a truly stunning, award-deserving performance of a strong, inspirational and determined person. This was an incredible watch. Im not a Liverpool fan, im not from Liverpool, I wasn't born when the Hillsborough Disaster happened, this is irrelevant - one of the most moving television programmes I have ever watched - and the first programme on TV to bring me to genuine tears in a number of years.

Credit to the cast, the producers, the directors and all the crew for this fantastic series.

But most importantly - rest in peace to the 97 who were unlawfully killed - and I hope one day there is justice for their families.

Really well told story by a very talented cast - well worth watching whether you are familiar with the battle these families had to go through or not. All I can say is that for the scenes in public, they instantly brought back all the memories of those days very vividly.

This 4 part series of the story of one of the victims mother is just incredible tv.

Each episode is just gut-wrenching, raw emotion & the acting & storytelling is just superb. Do not miss this must see tv!

This account of the Hillsborough disaster and the impact on one family is devastating and stops you in your tracks from the start. Tragic and difficult to watch sometimes it is also inspirational and is therefore a must see.