Haunting TV drama about aftermath of horrifying Southport murders which shocked UK being made for streamer like Netflix
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THE horrifying murder of three schoolgirls in Southport has inspired a TV drama.
Sadistic Axel Rudakubana was jailed for 52 years for killing Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine, when he launched an attack on a Taylor Swift dance class.
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Irish actor Jonas Armstrong will lead the project, which has a working title of Rooted Out
Credit: Getty
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Sadistic Axel Rudakubana was jailed for 52 years for killing Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, Bebe King, six, and Alice Da Silva Aguiar, nine, when he launched an attack on a Taylor Swift dance class
Credit: PA
Eight other children and two adults – dance class leader Leanne Lucas and businessman Jonathan Hayes – were seriously wounded.
Now a haunting two-part drama is in the works covering the devastating riots that followed.
Irish actor Jonas Armstrong will lead the project, which has a working title of Rooted Out.
He said: 'There were riots in the UK two summers ago because a few girls were murdered by a young man over in Southport, which is just across the water from where I am.
'Riots were kicking off throughout the country and loads of people were arrested and there was a lot of anger and frustration going on.
'This is the backdrop of that.
'The character I play is Oxford-educated and now is a university lecturer at the London School Of Economics.'
Production will begin this month, Jonas said, and will make up two 90-minute parts which will air on a streaming platform like Netflix.
Real life horrors are increasingly looked at by TV execs, with titles including Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story and David Tennant's Des on Dennis Nilsen and Little Boy Blue on the murder of Rhys Jones.
The actor, who is best known as Robin Hood in the BBC's 2006 series, shared more on the project's direction on podcast Lament of Hope, adding: 'I spoke to the writer and director and I said 'Why did you think of me?' and he said 'Because this breaks down racial bias, social bias, stereotypes, northern bias'.'
Shocking new footage shows yobs hurl bricks & bottles at police as 3 more thugs jailed
David: I'll never say dye
He may have been on our screens for over two decades now, but David Walliams isn't worried about looking like his Little Britain days by dyeing his hair.
The comedian, and former Britain's Got Talent judge, revealed he's turned down offers from his hairdresser to touch up his greying barnet.
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David Walliams says he's happy to go grey and won't dye his hair despite offers from his hairdresser
Credit: Alamy
He said: 'Someone offered to dye my hair the other day and I thought, 'That is a slippery slope' isn't it? Dyeing your hair and then dyeing your beard, it is weird.
'A hairdresser said, 'Oh do you want me dye it?' I was like 'No, you end up like Jimmy.'
But his Come Fly With Me co-star Matt Lucas, who lost his hair due to alopecia, joked to the Making A Scene podcast he'd love a new 'do.
He told David that if he could have hair, he'd opt for long curly locks like Brian May or 1980s Arsenal player, Charlie Nicholas.
A Prime Video documentary will take a closer look at the brutal murders of four university students in 2022 in Idaho, America.
Told by those involved and affected by the crime, the series will explore the impact and fallout of the killings.
One Night In Idaho will stream from July 11.
Kelly's voice is paused
The Voice UK has hit the pause button with this year's series now being delayed until 2026.
Insiders say that the ITV singing show – which has just signed up Kelly Rowland to join the judges panel – will make its comeback in January, instead of its traditional autumn slot.
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The Voice UK has been delayed until 2026 – with Kelly Rowland joining the judging panel for its big return
Credit: Getty
Judges Sir Tom Jones, Will.I.Am and McFly's Tom Fletcher and Danny Jones will return alongside new girl Kelly, who previously appeared on The Voice Australia and coached on The X Factor.
She replaces singer LeAnn Rimes, who left her role as mentor on the show to focus on her US career.
She has headed over to the American version of the format alongside Sheryl Crow.
It's Good Morning Olivia
Olivia Attwood has a lot to celebrate at the moment.
Her ITVX show The Price Of Perfection is riding high in the ratings – and it's now been revealed she will be joining the This Morning family.
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Olivia Attwood is joining the This Morning team as a summer stand-in after the success of her ITVX doc series
Credit: Shutterstock Editorial
The Love Island star launched the second series of her cosmetic industry documentary last week, with an impressive 300,000 streams just hours after it dropped.
Now, she is set to be one of the stand-in summertime presenters on the ITV daytime show.
Joining Ben Shephard and Cat Deeley to discuss her new doc series, Olivia said: 'I have news, it's very exciting, I'll be joining the hosting team.
'I'm going to be doing a couple of shows in the summer. It's a huge honour.
'Being part of the Daytime team with the Loose Women has been the best experience and this just feels like a very natural progression of that.'
This Morning airs weekdays on ITV from 10am.
The Discovery Channel is marking its 40th birthday with a four-part docuseries investigating how its shows have sparked viewers' passions.
Discovery Changed My Life follows a wildlife cinematographer, hiking guide and adventure organiser inspired by the channel. Airing on Discovery+.
Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club.
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Daily Mirror
3 minutes ago
- Daily Mirror
Urgent change for teachers demanded in disturbing Southport attacks report
A review into the Prevent programme recommended a string of steps to prevent more failings like those made with Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana and terrorist Ali Harbi Ali, who killed Tory MP Sir David Amess Frontline workers like teachers must get better training to spot dangerous extremists, a crucial extremism report has found. Authorities must also work with tech firms to identify would-be terrorists if lessons are to be learned from the Southport murders and the killing of Tory MP Sir David Amess, it said. Lord David Anderson said improvements must be made to the Prevent programme to help prevent similar tragedies. Both Axel Rudakubana, who murdered three young girls at a dance class in Southport, and Mr Amess's killer Ali Harbi Ali had previously been referred to the programme. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government would "immediately act" on the findings. Lord Anderson, the UK's Interim Independent Prevent Commissioner, concluded that several failures happened before Ali went on to kill in 2021. These included poor communication and lack of proper six-month reviews. And referring to the failure to escalate Rudakubana's case, he wrote: "It is hard to see how the test of 'reasonable grounds to believe that there are no Prevent concerns' could have been satisfied on the known facts of the case'." He called for urgent steps to make sure worrying online activity is better used to identify and investigate potential terrorists. And he said frontline public sector workers should be clear that those who show a fascination with "extreme violence or mass casualty attacks" must be referred to Prevent. The Commissioner upheld the findings of learning reviews into the two attacks, which found opportunities were missed to stop both Ali and Rudakubana. Lord Anderson said both had been referred to Prevent by their schools, but the programme "failed to provide what might have helped them". And he urged the Government to work with tech firms and social networks to strenghten methods of flagging dangerous fanatics. He wrote: "Whether different decisions might have spared their victims will never be known: both attacks came years later, and many imponderables intervened. But wrong decisions were taken; more should have been done; and from these failures, lessons must continue to be learned'" Rudakabana's trial heard he was not treated as a terrorist because there was no clear extremist ideology. This was despite him being fascinated with the Manchester Arena attack and an Al-Qaeda training manual being found at his home. Lord Anderson said Prevent must remain open to those who become obsessed with extreme violence, even if they do not have a clear ideology. He also called for a new task force to look into linking Prevent with a broader safeguarding and violence prevention programme. And the Commissioner said training for frontline workers must be rolled out for the end of the year. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government must look at how Prevent works "to stop further missed opportunities". She said progress has been made on a string of measures she announced back in December. These include a review into the way the programme treats people with severe mental health problems and provide improved support for those who do not qualify for Prevent intervention. Ms Cooper said: "Prevent training is being rolled out at pace to educate frontline professionals about the ideologies, such as Islamist extremism, that drive terrorism." In a statement to MPs, the Home Secretary said: "My department remains steadfast in its commitment to keeping the public safe and safeguarding people at risk of radicalisation. "The victims, their families and those who survived the Southport attack but continue to live with the physical and emotional pain, and Sir David Amess's family remain in our hearts and prayers."
The Independent
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The Independent
32 minutes ago
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Prevent programme should continue referrals for no ideology
Prevent, the Government's counter-terror programme, could work better as part of a violence prevention strategy in the long term and should apply to those fascinated by extreme violence, a watchdog has said. Independent Prevent Commissioner David Anderson KC has recommended the deradicalisation initiative should remain open to those with no fixed ideology in his report published on Wednesday. The review, looking at lessons learned from the cases of MP Sir David Amess's murderer Ali Harbi Ali and Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana, said 'intensive' efforts have been made to improve processes, but the 'jury is out' on some of the changes. Lord Anderson said: 'A huge amount of effort has already gone into making Prevent a stronger programme than the one which failed to deal in 2014 with the future killer of Sir David Amess. 'A blizzard of further initiatives has followed the Southport murders of last summer. Though it is too early for all of these to be fully evaluated, taken together they will reduce the chances of such failings being repeated. 'But more needs to be done. It has to be clear that people with a fascination with extreme violence can be suitable subjects for Prevent, even when they have no discernible ideology.' He added: 'In the longer term, I believe that Prevent could work better as part of a comprehensive violence prevention and safeguarding strategy.' The report recommended for a Cabinet Office task force to be set up to explore the possibility of formally connecting Prevent to a broader violence prevention and safeguarding system. It comes as the commissioner for the Commission for Countering Extremism, Robin Simcox, told the Commons' Home Affairs Committee that if Prevent shifted its focus towards taking on more cases of those with interests in extreme violence, it would mean the system 'isn't really a counter-terrorism programme any more'. He told MPs on Tuesday it would be a 'pretty fundamental shift in what Prevent is', adding: 'Prevent better brace itself for an awful lot of referrals.' Meanwhile, the interim Prevent commissioner's report also called for the body to 'up its game in the online world, where most radicalisation takes place'. Lord Anderson's report said that approaches to understanding organised terrorist activity from the last two decades are 'insufficient' for understanding digital movements of self-radicalised extremists, whose online behaviours are 'increasingly difficult to detect and interpret'. Speaking at the Home Affairs select committee on Tuesday, Lord Anderson said the average age of a person referred to Prevent is now 16 years old, and 40% are aged 11-15 so they are 'dealing here with digital natives'. The report concluded: 'Wider decisions loom on how Prevent can be better tailored to the online world inhabited by so many of its subjects; how best to deal with those whose ideology amounts to little more than a fascination with extreme violence; and whether Prevent should ultimately be embedded in a more general violence reduction strategy.' Lord Anderson detailed that he heard evidence from across the country of a large increase in Prevent referrals in the first quarter of this year following the publicity of Rudakubana's case. He added that reactions to popular Netflix series Adolescence on the theme of 'incels' may have also encouraged more referrals. Latest figures on Prevent referrals for 2023-2024 included in the report show 36% of 6,921 cases were made up of concerns of vulnerability but no ideology or counter-terror risk, followed by 19% extreme right wing and 18% for conflicted ideology. The report follows Prevent Learning Reviews published into the two cases. A review assessing Rudakubana's closed referrals to the programme years before he went on to murder three girls, and attempted to kill eight others and two adults, found too much focus was placed on the absence of a distinct ideology. Harbi Ali's case was also deemed to be closed too early after 'problematic' assessments, before he went on to kill veteran MP Sir David seven years later. Reacting to the Prevent commissioner's report on Wednesday, Radd Seiger, the adviser and spokesperson for the family of Sir David, said the family are 'deeply upset' and 'frankly offended' by the way Lord Anderson's report has been handled by the Home Office. He said the family were given 'next to no notice' of the timing or advance sight of the report, adding media leaks were a further insult to the family. Mr Seiger said they also received a 'dismissive' letter from the Home Secretary, which he said was designed to 'protect the Government following its failings' and not support them. The review on Prevent also comes after the terror watchdog recommended for a new offence to address the gap for lone individuals planning mass killings. In March, the Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, Jonathan Hall, said the terrorism definition should not be changed in the wake of the Southport murders, but instead the law could be changed to create an offence to prevent mass casualty attacks before they happen, similar to terrorism offences applying to an offender preparing for an attack.
