''London's Burning'' (credited on-screen as ''London's Burning 2011'') is a single British television

docudrama Docudrama (or documentary drama) is a genre of television and film, which features dramatized re-enactments of actual events. It is described as a hybrid of documentary and drama and "a fact-based representation of real event". Docudramas typic ...

film, written by Mark Hayhurst and directed by Justin Hardy, that premiered on Channel 4 on 22 December 2011. Based upon the events of the

2011 England riots The 2011 England riots, more widely known as the London riots, were a series of riots between 6 and 11 August 2011. Thousands of people rioted in cities and towns across England, which saw looting, arson, as well as mass deployment of police ...

, written from "first-hand testimony" and incorporating real-life footage from CCTV cameras, journalists & members of the public, the film stars David Morrissey and Samantha Bond as the senior police officers assigned to oversee deployment of police resources across the capital as the riots begin to escalate following the events of 4 August, which saw the Death of Mark Duggan at the hands of the

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

. The film focuses predominantly on events that occurred in and around the area of Clapham. Notably, both Morrissey's and Bond's characters were unnamed in the programme credits, with only subsequent news articles naming Morrissey's character as Gerry Campbell. The film is available to view in full on

Dailymotion Dailymotion is a French video-sharing technology platform owned by Vivendi. North American launch partners included Vice Media, Bloomberg and Hearst Digital Media. It is among the earliest known platforms to support HD (720p) resolution video. ...

. Douglas Hartington, director of photography, has also uploaded part of the film on his website as part of his active showreel.

Reception

'' The Times'' gave the film a positive review, writing; "This dramatisation, quite rightly, made heroes of the retailers whom the riot mob was cowardly enough to target", and went on to describe the film as a "British version of John Carpenter's 1976 movie '' Assault on Precinct 13''". '' The Independent'' also gave a positive review, writing; "''London's Burning'' was utterly, Killingesquely compelling. Based on witness testimonies, it saw David Morrissey and Samantha Bond star in a dramatisation of the days during which the capital seemed to go mad. Whether or not it was very good is a different question. But for a Londoner, it was riot porn. You couldn't help but be fascinated."

Cast

* David Morrissey as Borough Commander Gerry Campbell * Samantha Bond as Superintendent * Emily Bruni as Onelia * Anastasia Hille as Jan * Brooke Kinsella as Rixy * Martina Laird as Rachel *

Royce Pierreson Royce Pierreson (born 1 April 1989) is a British actor and narrator. Royce is best known for his roles as DC Jamie Desford in the fourth series of '' Line of Duty'' and as Reece in ''Murdered by My Boyfriend.'' He has since appeared as Dr Ja ...

as Alex * Pete Lee-Wilson as John * Jack Chissick as Duncan * Troy Glasgow as Lee *

Alex Hanson Alexander Harald St John Hanson-Akins (born 28 April 1961) is a Norwegian-born British stage actor who has appeared in numerous plays and musicals in the West End, and also on Broadway. Personal life Hanson was born in Oslo, Norway. His mothe ...

as Nick * Joanna Horton as Dolly * James Hillier *

Ansu Kabia Ansu Kabia is a British actor. He attended the Drama Centre London and was a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company Ensemble. He is best known for his starring role in the British period detective series '' Miss Scarlet & the Duke'' as th ...

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=2137087, title=London's Burning 2011 British television series debuts 2011 British television series endings 2010s British drama television series 2010s British television miniseries Channel 4 television dramas Channel 4 television films English-language television shows