Baby P: The Untold Story
BBC One Mon 27th Oct 8:30pm - 10pm
Review by:Alison GrahamThe photograph of a tow-haired, blue-eyed toddler reaching up to the camera as the ghost of a smile played around his face became the inescapable image of Baby P.
The picture became burned on the public imagination after Baby P, Peter Connelly, died aged just 17 months after sustained grotesque physical and emotional abuse. His mother, her boyfriend and the boyfriend's brother were later convicted of causing or allowing his death.
This 90-minute film hears from those directly involved in the powerful aftermath and the wave of revulsion that led to a nationwide soul-searching and a string of official inquiries.
Interviewees include Ed Balls, then Children’s Secretary and Sharon Shoesmith, former Director of Children’s Services at Haringey Council.
Film-maker Henry Singer's documentary detailing the timeline of events leading to the death of 17-month-old Peter Connelly at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and her boyfriend's brother in August 2007, and considering its aftermath. The programme examines how some powerful institutions evaded the spotlight, while public attention was focused on the involvement of social workers in the infant's home area of Haringey, north London. Among the interviewees featured in the film are social workers Gillie Christou and Maria Ward, then-Children's Secretary Ed Balls MP and the husband of the last medical practitioner to see Peter before he died.
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