In 2021, the kidnapping and murder of Sarah Everard raised blaring alarms about the amount of power and authority the police in the United Kingdom hold. Sarah Everard was walking from a friend’s place near Clapham Common to the Brixton Hill area where she lived. She was then stopped by a Metropolitan Police constable Wayne Couzens, who was off duty, arrested her, and then drove her to Kent, where he raped and murdered her.
Sarah Everard’s case was a shocking one because a constable, who is supposed to protect citizens, was the one who hurt someone brutally. BBC has commissioned Jeff Pope to make a two-part factual drama about Everard’s murder.
BBC has comissioned a factual drama written by Jeff Pope exploring Sarah Everard’s murder
Sarah Everard was a thirty-three-year-old woman who was working as a marketing executive at the time of her passing. She was arrested by constable Wayne Couzens on March 3, 2021, and then subsequently taken to a second location in Kent, where she was raped and murdered.
Investigations also revealed that Couzens had been a sexual offender for quite some time, yet was not kicked out of the Metropolitan Police. BBC’s upcoming factual drama, written by Jeff Pope, will follow the case and its details, and how a police officer could even do something like Couzens did in the first place.
According to BBC’s press release:
the factual drama, which is currently untitled, will examine the circumstances that allowed a sexual offender to become, and remain, a Metropolitan Police officer. It will explore how, over many years and across his career in different police forces, significant evidence of sexual offending was repeatedly dismissed and poor vetting and a lack of training and motivation meant vital evidence against him was never collected. It will consider the impact these failings have had on public confidence in policing, particularly in light of the epidemic of violence against women and girls.
The factual drama about Sarah Everard will be executive produced by Jeff Pope, Saurabh Kakkar, Kirsty Cunningham, and Nick Lambon for the BBC. The production company behind the show is Etta Pictures. Speaking about the show and Sarah Everard’s case, as the BBC press release revealed, Jeff Pope said,
“Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer, but opportunities to deny him that privilege were missed. That he was still a serving officer on the night of March 3rd 2021, after committing numerous sexual offences over a long period of time, was a tragedy waiting to happen, and the key question asked by this drama.”
Director of BBC Drama, Lindsay Salt, who commissioned the show, spoke about the show, saying,
“Drama has a unique ability to sensitively and respectfully tackle real life subjects and this series will explore the impact of this horrific crime, the misogyny and failings from within the Met Police and what lessons can be learnt. Award-winning writer Jeff Pope will treat this with the utmost care, helping to ensure that the issues that led to Sarah Everard’s murder remain in the public consciousness for years to come, whilst continuing to hold the police to account.”
Since the show is still in its early stages of development and is currently untitled, a release window is yet to be revealed.
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Edited by Ritika Pal