It is possible to make a cynical piece of television without anyone who appears on screen having a drop of toxicity in their veins. Documentaries with subjects ripped from the headlines are particularly likely candidates; documentaries centring the recently, appallingly bereaved even more so.
We turn, then, to Brianna: A Mother’s Story. Brianna is Brianna Ghey, the 16-year-old who in 2023 was murdered in a premeditated attack by two 15-year‑olds – Scarlett Jenkinson, whom Brianna considered a friend, and Jenkinson’s friend (if that is the correct word for what seems more accurately to have been a murderous partnership between two disturbed individuals) Eddie Ratcliffe. They lured Brianna to a park, then stabbed her 28 times. Det Supt Adam Waller of Cheshire police says he still wrestles with “the level of depravity” on display in the attack. Brianna’s friends, still in their teens, remember that “she was kind, funny, could always make you feel better” and how “she brought me comfort”. They share videos full of giddy, youthful energy and laughter.
