Latest news with #JeanCharlesDeMenezes
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
He's been in everything from EastEnders to Star Wars, yet this Essex-born actor barely gets recognised – do YOU know who he is?
You know Daniel Mays. He's that extraordinarily convincing character actor who's popped up in everything from EastEnders to Star Wars. He's famous, but not crazy famous – although the 46-year-old Londoner witnessed true celebrity once, in 2013, when he and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley in all the Harry Potter films) popped out to Pret A Manger for a sandwich during a break from rehearsing a play. 'These girls spotted Rupert and it was pandemonium. Any body part they could have yanked off him as a souvenir they would have. Actors want to have an impact but I draw the line at dismemberment.' We meet in a central London cocktail bar where, despite being 6ft 2in tall and looking dapper in an overcoat and cap, he goes largely unnoticed. Mays may not be instantly recognisable, but few could match the extraordinary range on his CV. Born in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, to an electrician dad and a bank clerk mum, he went to the Italia Conti stage school aged 14 and four years later won a place at Rada. One of his first roles after graduating was as Kat Slater's boyfriend in EastEnders. He has since shone in everything from TV cop thriller Line Of Duty to his Olivier-nominated stage turn as Nathan Detroit in the musical Guys & Dolls. Right now he's in Suspect: The Shooting Of Jean Charles De Menezes, a four- and five-star rated Disney+ drama about the 7/7 London tube bombings of July 2005, and the subsequent police killing of the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician who was misidentified as a terrorist at Stockwell tube station. Mays hopes it will have a similar impact as ITV's Mr Bates Vs The Post Office. 'The important thing about this story is that [de Menezes's] family are still fighting for his name,' says Mays. 'Loads of people, mates of mine and colleagues, were under the impression that [de Menezes] vaulted the barrier and ran down the escalator. And it didn't happen. You think to yourself, 'How has that cemented itself in people's heads?' Dramas like this and Mr Bates can hold people to account, set the record straight.' He loved playing principal forensic investigator Cliff Todd, the first on the scene at Aldgate station after one of the four 7/7 bombings. Todd visited the set during filming. 'It's easy to forget, as we get on with our lives, that there are ordinary people out there who get the calls no one else wants and they have to respond,' says Mays. Next up is the much-awaited Netflix movie adaptation of Richard Osman's 'cosy crime' bestseller The Thursday Murder Club, due to screen on 28 August. 'Surprise, surprise, I play a police officer,' says Mays. 'I should just join the force at this rate.' Produced by Steven Spielberg, it has Helen Mirren, Pierce Brosnan, David Tennant, Ben Kingsley and Jonathan Pryce among a stellar cast. 'Even though I've been in this industry a decent amount of time, I still got butterflies on set with that level of acting royalty,' he says. 'But David Tennant is the one guy who gives me nightmares.' He's only half-joking. In 2020 May and Tennant both appeared in ITV's Emmy-winning drama Des, about serial killer Dennis Nilsen. Tennant played Nilsen, Mays was his nemesis, DCI Peter Jay. 'David was so convincing I had a nightmare I was trapped in an attic with him,' he recalls. 'I actually woke up screaming. For me there's acting, then there's David Tennant acting.' Mays has spent 25 years on our screens, but despite attending Rada alongside Ben Whishaw and Maxine Peake he had early doubts. Were there enough roles for a working-class Essex boy? He felt guilty just thinking about it – his mum had taken a second job in a cardboard-box factory to help him pay for drama school. 'It broke my heart a bit to think I'd let my parents down,' he says, 'But my Rada tutor said, 'You'll get loads of work playing angry young men on the edge' and he was right.' First came EastEnders – and despite the soap's producers offering to expand his part so he could join the cast permanently, Mays declined, leaving after four episodes. 'No disrespect but I wanted to try new things,' he says. Luckily, the very next job was in the 2001 Hollywood film Pearl Harbor, directed by Michael Bay. 'The scale of that thing! I watched with my jaw on the floor while Bay was on a crane directing a scene involving a whole bloody air force! I had to go and see Ben Affleck about a scene and his trailer was the size of a small village – a real eye-opener for someone starting out.' Now, if he's not sure whether to accept a role, he talks to his friend Stephen Graham (who he starred with in the Disney+ smash hit A Thousand Blows earlier this year) and fellow London actor Eddie Marsan. 'Who wants to be a professional cockney?' asks Mays. 'No one. So if you can, you pick and choose parts carefully. I've played so many angry young men on the edge but I've taken risks, too.' He was Samuel Pepys in The Great Fire (ITV, 2014); gay rights campaigner Peter Wildeblood in the drama Against The Law (BBC, 2017); and Edward Bancroft, British spy and confidant of US founding father Benjamin Franklin (played by Michael Douglas) in Franklin (Apple TV+, 2024). Acting opposite the Hollywood legend was, Mays says, an unforgettable experience: 'Michael Douglas has earned every right to swan around giving off a 'been there, done that' aura, but he doesn't. If anything, it was me in my trailer going, 'Oh my god, I'm about to do a scene wearing stockings opposite Michael Douglas!'.' Franklin was a multimillion-dollar production. Its most iconic scenes were filmed on location at the Palace of Versailles, and Mays had the use of an apartment in the beautiful Montmartre district of Paris. His wife Louise and children Mylo, 19, and Dixie, 12, came out to stay. It was, he says, a magical time. A far cry from the situation in which he and Louise met 20 years ago, when Mays was starring in Top Buzzer, a short-lived MTV comedy about a drug dealer. 'Stephen Graham was in it and day one he starts this rumour that I am the love child of actor Jim Broadbent,' says Mays. 'All the cast and crew came up to me to ask if it was true.' One of them was the show's make-up artist Louise Burton. 'She told me, 'I didn't think you looked like Jim Broadbent's love child', but she also declined to do my make-up and got an assistant to do it instead.' Why? Because Louise fancied Mays and thought it would be unprofessional to work so closely with him. Eventually they began dating and, five months later, Louise became pregnant with Mylo. Mays admits that becoming a dad at 25 was a shock. 'It wasn't the plan at the time,' he says. 'I was a young actor starting out and it was all supposed to be about me! But becoming a father means you are not the most important person in the room. The only thing I could do was grow up quickly – and 20 years down the line I can honestly say it was the best thing ever. It forced me to get a work ethic and that's how I see my role now: to provide for my family.' Married in 2018, he and Louise live in North London. He plays golf in his downtime and walks his miniature maltese, Missy. If The Thursday Murder Club is a hit, and a second Richard Osman book is filmed, it would mean more time with acting royalty – perhaps a meeting with Spielberg himself. 'I missed his first visit to the set because I was off that day,' he says. 'But I'd love to sit down with the guy and say, 'Listen, I'm the love child of Jim Broadbent and I'm ready to be a leading man.'' Stefania Rosini/Disney+ 2023, contour by getty images
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Talented Mr. Tovey: ‘Drama has the amazing ability to connect people'
There's a haunting moment in the third episode of new Disney drama+ Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes when it becomes slowly and harrowingly clear that the Metropolitan Police have, to put it bluntly, fucked up. We see a bomb expert decked out in full body armour, boarding a Northern Line train at Stockwell tube station to rifle through the clothing of a man shot dead by the force at point-blank range just minutes before. Through the narrow lens of a helmet, we see a pair of uncertain eyes peering at the man's ID. That one piece of evidence provides the first inkling that De Menezes was not one of the men involved in the previous day's failed attacks on the capital. The bomb expert's fears are confirmed just minutes later when further tests come back entirely negative. The Met now have one hell of a problem on their hands. This is the real-life situation that unfolds in the drama, which takes a bold and brave look at the events 20 years ago that led to the fatal shooting of the 27-year-old Brazilian electrician on that fateful morning on 22 July 2005 – and the subsequent aftermath that concluded with a divisive open verdict in December 2008. Few real-life figures come away from the drama smelling of flowers, but a rare redeeming face comes in the form of Deputy Assistant Commissioner of the Met Brian Paddick, who is shown as one of the few who stood up to question the official story and when exactly the team of Sir Ian Blair – the then Commissioner of the Met – realised that the wrong man had been targeted. Paddick, who was essentially demoted to a desk job for daring to speak out, is portrayed in the show by Russell Tovey, a real-life friend of his who conveys the dogged but impressively measured approach that Paddick took in his pursuit of the truth. 'Drama has the amazing ability to connect people, and you look at shows like Mr Bates vs The Post Office and Adolescence as recent examples of ones that have had an amazing way to educate and open discussion,' explains the Essex-born actor when we meet in London just weeks before the drama's release. 'I'm hoping this does the same thing and there's some accountability off the back of it. 'But I wanted to honour Brian Paddick too; I wanted to serve him and that character and what he went through in order to honour the truth. He tried to take accountability at the time but that risked his position, and it affected the rest of his life,' says Tovey, who has known Paddick for nearly 20 years. 'He was a public figure who was out in a high position and ran for Mayor, and I always found him quite commendable and heroic,' he explains. 'And of course, people have said we sort of look similar to each other, and when this drama was announced, I thought 'Surely, they're gonna let me play him?! We're both gay men and we've got grey hair – come on, who else is there?!'' In one remarkable moment in Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes, Paddick puts it bluntly to his colleagues: 'It's like we're saying: 'Sorry we killed you, but it is your own fault.'' Tovey adds: 'Brian put his neck on the line, and when I've been talking to him about his career, it's clear that truth was the most important thing, which certainly feels radical in today's climate of post-truth and alternative facts. 'He wanted to tell the truth, hold people accountable, and I think that marked him out as being a troublemaker, which is just bizarre. For someone in that role to want to uphold honesty and truth and that be seen in some capacity as a negative is just shocking. When you watch it, you'll see that actually the want and need is for lies to be upheld and supported. This show will break that all open again, hopefully.' There's also the hope, Tovey explains, that the documentary will rehabilitate the image of De Menezes. Writer Jeff Pope toes the line with a forensic, near-journalistic approach that simply presents the facts of the matter, but this is a drama where those facts – and the horrific death of an innocent man – speak for themselves. For example, it's widely known that the police got the wrong man, but it's been largely lost that De Menezes did not jump the barrier and run from the police. The 2008 inquest revealed that he calmly tapped through the Tube barriers with an Oyster card and boarded the train. It was in fact the firearms officers who had jumped the barrier when pursuing De Menezes, but by that point the damage was already done. 'Ninety per cent of society who were following this story believe that those events were the reality,' reflects Tovey. 'There's a mural of Jean Charles outside Stockwell Station, and I bet people have walked past it and gone 'Didn't he run from the police? Wasn't he wearing a big, suspicious coat?' I've passed it hundreds of times, and every time I do, I just think how tragic it was. He was an innocent man, and I think there's going to be lots of people that will be blamed and held accountable, and when you watch this drama, you're going to see how the system works. 'His family have watched it, but they have been fighting for 20 years, and the offensiveness of the way they've been treated, and the memory of Jean Charles has been treated, is just disgusting. If this show can humanise this person's existence and show he mattered and was loved, then that's a real honour to be part of.' But the timing matters too, explains Tovey. It's a show that arrives at a time when we're in a 'terrifying' post-truth era. It's important then, he says, to tell the truth during a period when social media giants like Facebook have abandoned fact checkers, in a move perceived to be bowing to the Trump administration. 'I think, as human beings, we want the truth if it's being written down in a newspaper or if it's spoken about on a news channel. It has to be reliable, because what are we supposed to understand about the world if we're constantly being gaslit? Dramatising these events and upholding honesty just really matters.' The series is the latest hard-hitting project for Tovey, who tells me about the joy of receiving a Special Jury Award at Sundance Film Festival in January for Plainclothes, a real-life drama about a working-class police officer in 90s New York who is tasked with entrapping gay men in public toilets, only to find himself entangled in an unexpected relationship with one of his targets. 'Gay men were being targeted when they were cruising bathrooms, and the police would trap them and ruin their lives,' he reflects. It would be a bold and important story to tell at any time, but it seems more important in the time of Trump's America – when key rights for LGBTQ+ people are under threat like never before. 'Those rights are eroding, and I think what we have to do is make more and more content that's overtly queer and obvious and keep it visible and keep amplifying that because it's so easy to erase it and it's so easy to go back politically,' he says. Tovey was also part of Looking, Andrew Haigh's landmark show which marked HBO's first television series focused primarily on the lives of gay men. Would the network, in the face of the Trump administration, be brave enough to make such a show today? 'Right now, I'm sure there are multiple conversations happening where they're thinking of green-lighting queer characters or queer content, which makes it all the more important to say yes and do it,' he ponders. 'What's happening in the States is fucking terrifying, but it makes me more determined to tell gay stories and to play gay characters. If people are having to be brave, they should be brave right now because they're going to be on the right side of history, and I think I've always really run towards that.' Tovey, who won acclaim for his portrayal of Joe Pitt in the 2017 London revival of seminal gay play Angels in America, adds: 'When I was younger, people would tell me that I didn't want to be typecast in gay roles, and I'd just say that there are billions of queer characters around the world so how the hell can I be pigeonholed? There's so many stories to tell and every one I've done has been so varied, nuanced, and moved the dial somewhere along the line. I absolutely have to keep doing these roles.' Tovey's powerful response is bang on, and especially so for an actor of his range. One of his earliest roles came in The History Boys, which has allowed him to forge a strong friendship with Alan Bennett ('I saw him two weeks ago! He's 90 and still incredible!). But on the flip side of this, he's had forays into the world of comic-book drama with the DCEU's Supergirl. Later this year, he will return to the Whoniverse for The War Between the Land and the Sea, a Doctor Who spin-off series focusing on the threat of classic Who villain the Sea Devils. Its finer details are still shrouded in mystery. 'Err… what do you want to know?' says Tovey with a coy smile when asked about the series, with the air of a man only too aware that loose lips sink not only ships but TV shows too. 'I loved that role and I'm really proud of the time we had on it, so I hope that transfers onto the screen,' he diplomatically puts it. 'But we've got five episodes and [Tovey's co-star] Gugu Mbatha-Raw is in prosthetics, which is something I had to go through for Being Human, that whole thing of being in earlier than everyone else, so I felt sympathy for her! The whole cast is great, and Dylan Holmes Williams, who's directing it, is a superstar. It was a very, very special job, and I think if you meet people who have worked on it, I think that they will feel the same and say the same.' Tovey is incredibly busy outside of the acting world too. The keen art enthusiast and collector is currently wrapping up work on a children's art book that he hopes will impart his love of art to a new generation. His podcast TalkArt – which sees him grilling stalwarts such as Tracey Emin – constantly tops Apple charts across the globe. Is there anyone from the art world that Tovey would love to portray? 'Oh, [David] Hockney. Absolutely,' he says, without missing a beat. 'We wanted to interview him for the podcast, and he's evaded us so far, but I would love to play him. I think the story of him making art that was very coded and very queer at a time when it was still illegal, at the Royal College of Art, is amazing. His story too, coming from Bradford and Leeds and going to Malibu and living this incredible life where he's been surrounded by friends, muses and lovers. That story is phenomenal.' He adds of his passion: 'It's amazing, really, that I get to be a geek, have another passion project and do this stuff. I was at college when the YBA movement happened, and I remember seeing Damien Hirst's work [and] Tracey Emin's bed and just being shook by it. I understood what the word contemporary meant, and that working-class generation of artists gave me access to that world, and it felt like 'Oh, well they're in it, I'm allowed to be in it as well.' It makes me so happy. Going to see shows and meeting artists and visiting studios is such a dopamine rush. Art should be in the same conversation as storytelling in the way we view our world. It needs to be in the same discussion as everything else, otherwise it's othered, elitist and academic.' In a nutshell, then: Russell Tovey is a man finding himself, quite rightly, in strong demand across multiple genres and – as his art shows – multiple worlds too. 'Now I just wanna keep telling great stories and just playing fucking great characters,' he surmises. 'I've been really lucky that I've had so many amazing men that I've got to play.'
Daily Mirror
30-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Inside Jean Charles De Menezes' tragic death as Disney+ drama Suspect delves into what really happened
Disney+'s latest true drama, Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes, is set to delve into the tragic events surrounding the untimely death of Jean Charles De Menezes. The entire four-part series was released today, Wednesday, 30th April, on Disney+, inviting subscribers to explore the shocking events that unfolded two decades ago. With a star-studded cast including Russell Tovey, Max Beesley, Laura Aikman and Daniel Mays, and Edison Alcaide taking on the role of De Menezes, Suspect revisits a harrowing chapter in UK history that saw an innocent 27 year old Brazilian electrician lose his life. As the highly anticipated drama hits Disney+, here's a rundown of the real-life events that inspired the series. A closer look at what really happened to Jean Charles De Menezes The Build-Up On July 7, 2005, London was rocked by four suicide bombings, three of which targeted various Underground stations and a fourth detonated on a bus in Tavistock Square, claiming the lives of 52 people. Two weeks later, on July 21, the city faced another wave of attacks with bombs intended to explode at Shepherd's Bush, Warren Street and Oval underground stations, and on a bus in Haggerston. However, unlike the initial attacks, these bombs failed to fully detonate, with only explosions heard around 12.30pm on the targeted underground lines and the bus. Reports suggest that the detonator caps were triggered, but the bombs failed to explode, possibly due to the low-grade hydrogen peroxide used in their construction. Manhunt Tragically, the bombers managed to escape after the detonations were heard, including a fifth individual who abandoned his device earlier without setting it off. The manhunt to apprehend the offenders commenced, with former Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir Ian Blair calling it the "greatest operational challenge ever faced". The initial lead on the attackers' identities came from a gym membership card discovered in one of the bags with the unexploded bomb. The card had an address in Scotia Road, Tulse Hill, which was in the same apartment complex where Menezes lived with two cousins. Menezes had recently returned from Brazil, where he had been caring for his father with cancer, sending money back to cover medical expenses. The Incident Surveillance operations started the day following the botched bombings, with Menezes spotted exiting the flats at 9.30am to attend to a fire alarm call. One of the surveillance officers thought he resembled a suspect captured on CCTV. However, the image of Menezes was delayed in reaching Met Police headquarters because the officer in charge of surveillance was reportedly taking a bathroom break. The delay resulted in Cressida Dick, who was leading the Met's task force for handling major incidents at the time, giving the order to tail Menezes. She also commanded that he be prevented from entering any London Underground stations. Menezes was shadowed by undercover officers as he boarded a bus to Brixton Station, then hopped on another bus to Stockwell. The officers found his movements suspicious, but the 27 year old altered his destination when he discovered Brixton Station was closed due to the attempted bombings. As they also informed those at Met's HQ that he possibly matched the description of the suspects, "code red" tactics were approved with Dick ordering that he be "detained as soon as possible". Menezes entered Stockwell Station around 10am, using his Oyster card to pass through the barrier and made his way to the platform. Unbeknownst to him, he was being trailed by undercover officers and newly arrived firearms officers who sprinted through the station before boarding the train, shouting "He's here!". It is believed that Menezes, bewildered by the unfolding events, stood up and was about to approach them when he was restrained. Two armed officers then fatally shot him 11 times, including seven shots to the head, which aligns with police guidance on dealing with terrorist bomb threats. Aftermath A day after the shooting, police identified Menezes, realising that he had no connection to the attempted bombings. The tragic death of a man at the hands of the Metropolitan Police has been mired in controversy and regret, as stated by the force. His family was reportedly offered nearly £585,000 in compensation but ultimately received only £100,000, with his remains being flown back to Brazil for burial just a week later. His cousin, Alex Alves Pereira, expressed his belief that "I believe my cousin's death was the result of police incompetence." He highlighted the discrepancies in police reports, including the baffling decision to let a "suspected suicide bomber" board a bus. A pathologist initially claimed the man had "vaulted over the ticket barriers" and ran, but CCTV footage disproved this account. Further doubts were cast when it was revealed that platform CCTV was not available, allegedly due to an un-replaced hard drive following the failed bombings. The case was referred to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, but Sir Ian Blair restricted their access, stating, "the shooting that has just occurred at Stockwell is not to be referred to the IPCC and that they will be given no access to the scene at the present time." Following an inquest, it was determined that no single individual would face prosecution for the death. The family sought justice through the European Court of Human Rights in 2015, but their efforts were once again met with disappointment. Disney+'s Suspect marks the first drama to delve deep into the heart-wrenching events, with Menezes' family on board as consultants for the series. His mother, Maria De Menezes, confided in the BBC, saying she felt "reassured that the truth was being told".
Daily Mirror
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Jean Charles De Menezes' mum says 'everyone needs to watch' Disney+ drama about son's tragic death
Jean Charles De Menezes was tragically and wrongly killed by police shortly after the London bombings 20 years ago. WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes. The mother of Brazilian electrician, Jean Charles De Menezes, who was killed two decades ago, has openly talked about the Disney+ drama that explores the events before and after her son's death. On July 7, 2005, Jihadi suicide bombings killing 52 people in London , with another round of bombings thwarted just weeks later. In a frantic attempt to catch the culprits, police tragically misidentified Jean Charles De Menezes and shot him dead at Stockwell tube station. The Disney+ series, Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes, examines not just the events preceding the failed attacks but also the death of Menezes and how the police mishap was subsequently handled. As the true-to-life tale is set to premiere, Maria De Menezes, Jean's grieving mother, expressed her thoughts on the emotionally charged show which graphically depicts her son's fatal shooting. At the Suspect screening, Maria stated: "In my opinion, I think everyone should watch it." Reflecting upon the shattering moment she learned of her son's demise all those years ago, she conveyed: "I was not expecting that moment. It was terrible and then I started to shake. I sort of died then too." Writer and executive director Jeff Pope commented: "I genuinely believe from being in the room that day with her, they've been waiting 20 years for this. I honestly think that. It's just eaten away at them." He further expressed his belief that "lessons have already been learned" but stressed the necessity of such realisations back in 2005. "His [Menezes'] family needed that 20 years ago. There's such an appetite for audiences in the UK for this type of piece." Pope also reflected on the British audience's temperament, saying, "I just think we like to get angry. We don't like being told something that we know or sense doesn't seem right."
The Sun
26-04-2025
- The Sun
I covered the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes and saw horrific cop blunders… you MUST watch harrowing Disney drama
A CLIMATE of fear and loathing gripped London early on 22 July 2005 - and nowhere more so than at New Scotland Yard. Four would-be suicide bombers - who had tried to blow up the capital's public transport system on the previous day - remained at large and panic was palpable across the city. 12 12 12 And there was genuine loathing for the 'b*****ds' who came within a whisker of emulating the terrorists who killed 52 innocent people on three tube trains and a bus a fortnight earlier. Just after 10am that morning, the mood among the Metropolitan Police changed to one of jubilation when a man believed at the time to be one of the 21/7 bombers on the run, was shot dead. Two firearms officers put seven bullets in the suspect's head on a northbound Victoria Line train at Stockwell tube station. By the end of the day, however, the atmosphere in the corridors at New Scotland Yard had turned positively funereal as it dawned on everyone but Commissioner Sir Ian Blair that an innocent man had become the 53rd victim of the July 2005 attacks. Only this time, it was the Met who was responsible for the killing after mistaking 27-year-old Brazilian electrician Jean Charles De Menezes for one of the bombers. The fatal shooting was the result of a disastrous surveillance operation and was followed by an equally shambolic damage limitation exercise by the Met. A haunting new four-part television drama - Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes - is being streamed on Disney+ next week. The recreation of Jean Charles' shooting, and the flawed surveillance operation preceding it, are brought to the screen in harrowing detail. Jean Charles' mother, Maria De Menezes, says everyone should watch the dramatisation of her son's death, despite feeling ill for three days after watching the show. I covered the story of Jean Charles' death on the day and attended subsequent legal hearings and inquiries over the next seven years for The Sun, and could not agree more with Mrs De Menezes. The first two episodes of the programme left me numb with shock and sadness. A million words on paper could not capture the humanity of the tragedy so powerfully encapsulated in the hour-long programmes by creator Jeff Pope. The utter chaos of the police surveillance operation is illuminated in jaw-dropping detail, along with the crass and misleading initial attempts by the Met to minimise their mistake. When Jean Charles was executed by the state, I was on the tube heading to New Scotland Yard where I planned to 'plot up' with other crime reporters in one of the nearby coffee bars at St James' Park station. There was a delay on the Victoria Line and by the time I arrived my phone was red hot with messages from the newsdesk about an incident at Stockwell underground station. Crime reporters from the national media had spent most of the past two weeks loitering around New Scotland Yard, in the hope of unofficial updates from contacts and being in position for official briefings on the investigation into the 7/7 attacks. The programme starts with the 7/7 attacks before moving to a dingy flat at in North London, where the 21/7 gang were preparing their bombs under the direction of Muktar Said Ibrahim. 12 12 Life was beginning to return to normal on 21 July when a flood of calls came into The Sun's newsroom about a series of explosions on the tube network and a bus between 11.30am and noon. Mercifully, the four bombs - a fifth had been discarded by another bomber who lost his nerve - had not detonated the main 'Mother of Satan' TATP explosives. The programme focuses on Jean Charles' own reaction to the terrorist incidents who is brought to life by Brazilian actor Edison Alcaide, in his first major role. Jean Charles is shown to be a hard-working young man carrying out jobs on sites by day and working at a restaurant on the night before his death. Because of his late finish, Jean Charles was not due to start his day job until later but with fateful timing, his boss asked him to start work. Stockwell shooting timeline 2005 July 7 - four suicide bombers kill 52 people in London July 21 - four terrorists fail to detonate explosives in London July 22 - 9.33am surveillance officers see Jean Charles de Menezes leave a block of flats in South London, thinking he is terror suspect Hussen Osman 10.01am - Jean Charles enters Stockwell tube station 10.04am - 'State Red' declared meaning firearms officer ordered to stop the suspect 10.05am - Armed officers confront and shoot Jean Charles 4pm - Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair tells a press conference the Stockwell shooting was "directly linked" to the attempted bombing. 5pm - The police admit the victim was not linked to terrorism. July 27 - Four of Jean Charles's cousins, pictured above, demand an end to the "shoot-to-kill" policy. August 16 - ITV reveals details of Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) investigation that contradict the Met's version of events. 2006 July 15 - It is revealed that no one will be charged with the murder or manslaughter of Jean Charles. 2007 November 1 - The Met Police Commissioner and his office were found guilty of health and safety offences and fined £175,000. 2008 December 12 - A coroner's inquest records an open verdict on Jean Charles's death. 2009 November 23 - The Met agrees to pay £100,000 in compensation to Jean Charles's family. The small block where he lived was being kept under surveillance that morning in what police then believed was their first major breakthrough in tracking down the 21/7 bombers. A gym card belonging to one of the terrorists, Hussein Osman, was found in a rucksack containing his bomb at Shepherd's Bush tube station, along with a cut-up wedding photograph. In another unfortunate coincidence, Osman had not even provided his real address to the gym but had given one belonging to an associate at the Scotia Road block, where Jean Charles lived in another flat. SHOOT-TO-KILL POLICY A lone soldier was sitting in a van outside Scotia Road and watching the communal front door in case Osman showed himself. The soldier was urinating into a bottle and missed Jean Charles as he came through the door at 9.33am. From that moment on, the operation never recovered. Firearms officers were supposed to have been there at the time but were running late after being briefed at their base that Operation Kratos - a shoot-to-kill policy designed to thwart suicide bombers - was engaged. Jean Charles was dark-haired and had olive skin, while Hussein was North African, but Met surveillance officers waiting near the flats were unable to identify or rule him out as the bomber. The programme shows the countdown to disaster continuing as Jean Charles boards a bus - where he could have been stopped, and gets off at Brixton tube station. The station was shut because of a security alert and Jean Charles then caught another bus to Stockwell. The surveillance officers kept pace with Jean Charles but were unable to get a face-on view over concerns it might spook him and he could potentially trigger a bomb. The programme captures the confusion of the surveillance perfectly. Jean Charles is described by his watchers as 'very, very jumpy' while one the SO12 officers says: 'For what it's worth, I think it's him.' Yet another officer definitively says: 'It's not him.' But frustratingly, that message was never passed on by the surveillance team leader to control. Commander Dick - later to become Met commissioner and be awarded a damehood - was desperate for CO19 officers to carry out the stop. She asks the tailing officers what percentage they would give for a positive identification of the bomber. To their credit, the surveillance officers decline to reply and Dick then decides to wait until the suspect has alighted from the bus before stopping him. 12 12 12 And that's what Jean Charles did outside Stockwell tube station before using his ticket to go through a barrier. Jean Charles is shown heading down the escalator as Dick tells the team: 'He can't be allowed to get on the train.' But Jean Charles does get on the train and surveillance officers follow him, one of them sidling up in the seat next to him. Meanwhile, the CO19 firearms officers wearing body armour have finally arrived at the station and are seen vaulting barriers with guns drawn and running down the escalator. Watching the events unfold almost 20 years later, it is still shocking and defies logic when you realise what is about to happen. HORROR UNFOLDED The time is 10.06am and without any warning the surveillance officer suddenly pulls Jean Charles down and the gun cops - code-named Charlie 1 and 2 - pump seven shots into his head and one in his shoulder. It is the most shocking thing I have ever witnessed on a television screen but the real power of the programme is in its compassion for Jean Charles and his family. Some senior officers knew that a wallet and mobile phone had been found suggesting the man they had shot was a Brazilian national named Jean Charles De Menezes. But Commissioner Sir Ian Blair told us at a press conference held later that afternoon that the shooting is 'directly linked to the ongoing and expanding anti-terrorist operation." Inaccurately, he added: 'As I understand the situation, the man was challenged and refused to obey police instructions.' Watching the events unfold almost 20 years later, it is still shocking and defies logic to realise what is about to happen. The Met would go on to compound the errors of the operation, notably releasing computer graphics to show the face of Jean Charles morphing into the darker-skinned one of bomber Osman. They also released mistaken eyewitness accounts wrongly claiming that Jean Charles was wearing bulky clothing, had behaved suspiciously and had vaulted the barriers at Stockwell station. Ultimately, the London force would salvage its reputation by doing what it does best - catching baddies. Within a week of Jean Charles' shooting, they had rounded up the 21/7 gang. Their leader Ibrahim Muktar Said was captured with Ramzi Mohamed when the SAS stormed a flat in North Kensington. The Met would later be fined £175,000 for health and safety failings in the bungled operation which led to Jean Charles' death. However, to the anger of Jean Charles' family and supporters, none of the officers involved ever faced disciplinary action. There won't be too many days when those officers don't think of Jean Charles. But they owe it to Mrs De Menezes to watch the new drama, no matter how painful the memories may be.
