Based on a true story that shocked a nation, this powerful four-part factual drama, from BAFTA winning writer and executive producer Jeff Pope (Appropriate Adult, The Widower), centres on the devastating impact on a city of an innocent child’s murder amid a wave of gang violence. In August 2007, while walking home from football practice in his England kit, 11-year-old Rhys Jones was unwittingly caught in the crossfire of a gang war. Shot in the neck outside the Fir Tree pub in Liverpool’s Croxteth, he died in his mother’s arms. Made with the support of Rhys’s parents, Melanie and Steve, Little Boy Blue explores their ordeal and looks at the agonising dilemmas of witnesses faced with becoming pariahs for speaking up. It tells the story of the long and extensive investigation, led by Merseyside Police SIO David Kelly, that eventually brought Rhys’s murderer and his associates to justice.
Reviews
This mini-series is an emotional rollercoaster. The actors in the British crime dramas are from top to bottom, off the charts good, and this one is just is no different. And this is based on a true story.
A story of gang violence people across the world are all to familiar with. Little 'Men' thinking they are 'big'..with iron on their hands.. sadly no amount of tattoos or owning a Glock..will ever make you a man, that take's hard work and guts.Brilliantly made and acted, if it was a Soap, no one would believe it. but unfortunately, yeah this happened. Hope our cousins in the USA will watch this and stop legally buying guns. They always end up for re- sale..in the wrong hands. #peace
STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning In August 2007, in the car park of The Fir Tree pub in Croxteth, Liverpool, eleven year old Rhys Jones, who was on his way home from football practice, became the most innocent of casualties in a local gang rivalry, dying after being accidentally shot by a bullet meant for someone else. On the eve of promotion, Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly (Stephen Graham) is assigned to lead the investigation into Rhys's death that comes to have a far more profound effect on his professional and home life than he could have imagined. Despite his dogged determination to get justice for Rhys and his parents Mel (Sinead Keenan) and Steve (Brian F.O' Byrne), Kelly encounters a wall of silence from a local community living in fear of the gangs and the repercussions of being labelled a 'grass.' Ten years on from the case that this TV drama is based on, ITV have chosen to make it into a three part drama detailing the case and how events panned out. There's certainly a lot of meat on the bones to work with, and the film is careful not to sensationalise anything, and tell the case in a sensitive and effecting way. Aside from the already horrifying death of a child, the case grabbed the nations attention also by highlighting what may well be a commonplace truth around the country, of normal, decent, respectable people living alongside those who live by their own rules with no intention of living honestly, and the shocking consequences of what happens when these two worlds sometimes inevitably collide.Although he feels a little too much like the 'go to' guy for this part, it can also be said that there was no better person for the lead role than Graham, with his natural Scouse background and pretty realistic physical resemblance to the real Dave Kelly. He fits the part pretty effortlessly, but still turns in a reliably great performance, as an increasingly seasoned detective who feels personally affronted by the crime he is investigating, unable to let it go due to the sheer outrageousness and senselessness of it, young men whose need to belong and be part of armies who are willing to endanger and take life for something as stupid as an area code. He is complimented by Keenan and O'Byrne as Rhy's grieving parents, O'Byrne bringing a quiet, bottled up angst as the father, with Keenan an emotional torrent as the mother.During the film, Mel takes exception to Rhys being described as being 'in the wrong place at the wrong time.' It's a commonly thrown around soundbite, that is rather unintentionally thoughtless in its use. A very lawful world and a very uncivilised world do coexist by each other very unknowingly, and that world can sometimes reach up and bite with the most tragic of results. But it should always be that world that never has any place or any time, rather than the decent one. ****
This is absolutely heart braking to watch, I defy anybody to watch this without shedding a tear. Based on the tragic real life events of young Rhys Jones, and his horrific and tragic murder. I understand that the parents of young Rhys were involved in the production of this drama, and I think that definitely helps with the grit and realism of the show, it doesn't feel like it's been sensationalised at any point, it feels very realistic.Fantastic performances all round, I have forever been a fan of Stephen Graham, but he has gone up a notch with this, he's proved what an incredibly powerful actor he is.It's tough viewing, and I've watched every episode in tears, but it's a story that is worth seeing, what that poor family went through. The scenes in Goodison Park are among the most powerful I've seen in years.9/10