I have watched this 3 part series on BBC1 over the past three evenings, and feel that I must pass some comment here. It has been a documentary drama based on the real life story of prolonged grooming and abuse of young girls in Rochdale - by adult men who are predominantly British men of Pakistani origin.
The story has received much publicity in recent years, as have too many similar cases in a variety of towns and cities around the UK (almost exclusively in England so far). These are true horror stories, with the young victims at the centre – but with a complex range of other people involved – the social workers and sexual health workers who tried to help (and probably some who didn't try very hard), the police, the CPS, the community at large, the parents. I won't attempt to re-tell it here.
I thought that this three-part series did a really excellent job of telling the story. It was quite harrowing to watch on many occasions, but this is a really excellent piece of TV production with wonderful acting by all concerned. Our deepest sympathies are of course with the victims and their families, as well as with the officials whose determination sees this particular case come to a successful prosecution. But I congratulate too those Asian actors who played their parts in this production.
I am grateful to the BBC for producing this series, and I consider it a good use of my licence fee. My sympathies go out to all victims of this kind of trafficking and abuse, and I hope that the series might help give some courage to other such victims.
The story has received much publicity in recent years, as have too many similar cases in a variety of towns and cities around the UK (almost exclusively in England so far). These are true horror stories, with the young victims at the centre – but with a complex range of other people involved – the social workers and sexual health workers who tried to help (and probably some who didn't try very hard), the police, the CPS, the community at large, the parents. I won't attempt to re-tell it here.
I thought that this three-part series did a really excellent job of telling the story. It was quite harrowing to watch on many occasions, but this is a really excellent piece of TV production with wonderful acting by all concerned. Our deepest sympathies are of course with the victims and their families, as well as with the officials whose determination sees this particular case come to a successful prosecution. But I congratulate too those Asian actors who played their parts in this production.
I am grateful to the BBC for producing this series, and I consider it a good use of my licence fee. My sympathies go out to all victims of this kind of trafficking and abuse, and I hope that the series might help give some courage to other such victims.