The Grenfell Tower disaster was caused by a “complex combination of corporate greed with complete disregard for safety” as well as professional incompetence, oversight and organisational failings, lawyers have told an inquiry (PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)The BBC has announced it will be producing a brand-new factual drama about the Grenfell Tower fire.
Titled Grenfell, the three-part series will focus on the events leading up to, during and after the 2017 fire at Grenfell Tower in West London.
The drama has been in the works for more than five years and draws on intensive research, including public sources, the inquiry hearings and interviews conducted with survivors and those affected by the fire.
It will be told from multiple perspectives and, according to the show synopsis, will “shine a light on the human stories of those caught up in the tragedy, exploring the profound impact of Grenfell on survivors, the families and loved ones of those whose lives were lost, the firefighters on duty that night, and the wider community.”
The fire itself, in which 72 people died, made headlines around the world and was sparked by an electrical fault in a refrigerator on a fourth-floor flat on the night of June 14, 2017. During the incident, more than 250 firefighters and 70 fire engines from stations across London battled to control the blaze, which burned for 60 hours.
The fire sparked a national investigation into the recently renovated, sub-par cladding used to protect the building from catching fire. It is also the subject of multiple ongoing investigations into the building’s management, the Fire Brigade response to the disaster and fire safety systems, among other things.
The Grenfell disaster ranks as the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the fire on the Piper Alpha oil platform in 1988, and the worst residential fire in the UK since the Second World War.
The show’s writer and director, Peter Kosminsky, said that the show was an attempt to get to the heart of what actually happened.
“Despite the many newspaper pages and TV hours devoted to the story, we may be left with a less than clear sense of exactly what happened, what went wrong,” he said.
“In our drama, we attempt to pick our way through hours of public testimony, as well as original interviews conducted by our team, to reach the heart of this catastrophe: how such a thing can have happened; how we can avoid it ever happening again.”
“We are immensely grateful to the men and women who have shared their stories with us, and let us into their lives – we couldn’t possibly hope to honour their experiences without the time and trust they have given us," added associate producer Ahmed Peerbux.
Grenfell is being made by production company The Forge for BBC and BBC iPlayer.
