I'm always intrigued (and sometimes troubled) by real life stories being presented as dramas, particularly as they seem to air increasingly quickly, very soon after the events took place.
There has been a spell of real life dramas on our tv screens recently: The Sixth Commandment about a fraudster and murderer, The Long Shadow about the Yorkshire Ripper, Partygate about No10 during the lockdown and tomorrow night The Reckoning about Jimmy Savile.
It's odd to consider these programmes as 'entertainment'. But as we learn that more and more of us are switching off the nightly news programmes and fewer people are buying newspapers, perhaps this is how we are to be confronted by some of the issues of the recent past.
Drama can open our eyes to the realities of events which may have seemed distant or abstract. It can encourage us to engage, to empathise, and hopefully urge us and fuel us with a desire to act, to help bring about change for good.
The arts matter and dark stories which are well told, creatively told, and where the goal is to achieve excellence in every aspect - they can be uplifting and energising, and bring about hope.
Thank you for reading.