The Ice Cream Wars

A very disappointing messy and badly made documentary that was absolutely all over the place. The premise of the mini series was very attractive, a telling of the famed soprano like ice cream mafia of the 80s but the first episode was an absolute whirlwind of bad editing, random tangents that went absolutely nowhere and after about half an hour I realized that wasn't very good. I could not follow what an earth was going on, who anybody was or really what the ice cream wars was really about. It's a shame as the trailer is thoroughly engaging and made me feel as though I was going to be entertained and be educated on a very unique part of Glasgow's history but alas the first episode gave me absolutely nothing to go with and I stopped watching.

In postwar Glasgow's suburban housing estates, there was a dreadful paucity of services. Ice cream vans were useful if you wanted to buy ice cream, but also (allegedly) stolen goods and drugs. For whatever reason, the trade was lucrative, and fought over; and one young driver's family were burnt to death by someone who, it's assumed, wanted their rounds. Then the two men convicted protested their innocence, one even repeatedly escaping and then voluntarily returning to gaol to highlight his case; eventually, they were freed, although only after their first appeal was rejected. This documentary reconstructs the story. One limitation is that the real killer was never found; and thus what exactly what happened, both in the trade and in the murder, is not something the programme can reveal. All it can say is that people were killed for no good reason, and bad policing punished the wrong men. Which is a worthy story to tell; but also, a somewhat banal one.

In the 60's, I grew up in Easterhouse, a housing estate on the north-east of Glasgow where the ice-cream wars of the title of this two-part BBC documentary later partly took place and so was especially interested in watching it. I vividly remember as a boy in the late 60's the chimes of the Marchetti ice-cream van ringing out to attract customers in the Provanhall scheme where I lived with my family.

It seems crazy that something so banal as the route of an ice-cream van through some of the poorest estates in Glasgow could lead to the death of six innocent members of one family but this horrific crime did indeed take place in 1983 and shocked the nation.

The victims were six of eight members of the Doyle family who lived together in a three-bedroom flat in the Ruchazie part of Glasgow, adjacent to Easterhouse. The perpetrator had poured petrol through the letterbox of their front door and callously set light to it, setting off a horrendous fire which saw six people, including an 18-month-old baby lose their lives. The murders and manner of the deaths made for headline news, the moreso when the apparent motive for the action was to "frighten" Thomas Doyle, an 18-year-old young man whose only "crime" it seemed, was to have the enterprise to own and drive his own ice-cream van through disputed territory contested by criminals from Glasgow's underworld.

What followed was an intensive police investigation which eventually centred on six individuals, two of whom were then convicted of the six murders but who immediately and thereafter protested their innocence. Eventually, almost 30 years later, both were freed with the blame for the misdeed being laid at the door of another violent criminal who had died in the interim, the upshot being that, as of today, the crime still remains unsolved.

Told over two hour-long episodes, this well-made programme did a good job explaining the creation of these housing estates built on the suburbs of Glasgow but with minimal amenities for its inhabitants to enjoy, like shops, pubs, sports facilities or really any kind of significant infrastructure for their social benefit. Unsurprisingly, crime moved in, with gang warfare rife in the area and later the dispute over the routes of profitable ice-cream vans which led to this heinous crime being carried out.

Making extensive use of TV and press coverage of the day and modern-day interviews with many of the parties involved in the original police investigation and media coverage, it made for compulsive viewing. Significantly, though, I felt, there was no participation by any representative of the Doyle family, anyone related to Thomas Campbell one of the two men originally convicted or Thomas McGraw, believed to be its real perpetrator. Claims are made that the police "set-up" the two admittedly shady characters for the crime which took years to finally expose as a miscarriage of justice.

To be murdered over such a minor matter seems almost unthinkable as does the scale and horror of the crime itself. Sadly it seems as if we will never truly discover who carried out this despicable act which saw a go-ahead teenager and most of his family wiped out over for trying to make an honest living from the simple running of an ice-cream van dispensing confectionery to mostly young kids just like me at the time.

Glasgow is flattened and redeveloped, communities are moved outside of the centre, but shops and amenities are limited. Ice cream vans take advantage of the gap, delivering all types of goods. A fight for the market begins, and on a night in 1984, a house is torched, and six family members die.

It's a very well made and fascinating documentary, you have to hand it to the producers, they give you some great background as to why the ice cream vans were doing the rounds, and a few indications as to why the diabolical crime took place.

Episode two focuses on Campbell and Steele, explaining their confessions, escapes from prison and subsequent fights for justice.

There are some incredible interviews, people who were directly involved, and some fascinating news coverage too.

I don't think it's right for me to voice my own personal opinions, as my knowledge is so limited, what I would say though, is six people died, and who knows what torments the two remaining family members had to endure.

A real tragedy, very well made and interesting.

8/10.