''Murdered by My Boyfriend'' is a fact-based
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...
first aired on
BBC Three
BBC Three is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes targeting 16 to 34-year-olds, covering all genres including animation, comedy, curre ...
in 2014. It stars
Georgina Campbell
Georgina Alice Campbell (born 12 June 1992) is an English actress and model. She won the 2015 British Academy Television Award for Best Actress, BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for ''Murdered by My Boyfriend'' (2014). Her other television credit ...
as Ashley Jones, a young victim of
domestic abuse
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner v ...
at the hands of her controlling boyfriend, Reece, portrayed by
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 ...
.
It was based on an actual case of murder, with the victim's family asking the producers to give the characters different names. According to the producers, the purpose of the film is to educate juvenile viewers about relationship abuse.
Plot
Ashley meets Reece at a house party and accidentally becomes pregnant with his child. Reece's abusive personality shows more and more. Ashley's friends ask her to leave him, but she struggles to do so. Ultimately Ashley chooses to exit the relationship, then travels to
Leicester
Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands.
The city l ...
where she sleeps with another man. In response, Reece kills her with an ironing board while their daughter watches from her bedroom. He is initially sentenced to fifteen years in prison, but his sentence is increased to twenty years on appeal due to the nature of the assault that resulted in her death.
Characters
* Ashley Jones - Jess Commons of ''
Grazia
''Grazia'' (; Italian for ''Grace'') is a weekly women's magazine that originated in Italy with international editions printed in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Colombia, France, Germany. Greece, Indonesia, I ...
'' states that Ashley is not a "pitiful victim" through and through but becomes inundated with abuse as the film progresses. Due to an increase in domestic violence involving people aged 16–24, the producers made Ashley a teenager.
The mother of the real-life murder victim stated that "My daughter was strong-willed and independent, but her murderer manipulated, controlled, and persuaded her into continuing the relationship."
* Reece - Sophie Goddard of ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
'' UK remarked that the character has a "likeable, personable side" and an "abusive, controlling, violent" one, which shows the "complexity of this situation for victims."
[ Campbell states that initially Reece is "charming and older and funny and sweet".][
]
Reception
In a piece for British broadsheet ''The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was fo ...
'', writer Regina Moriarty said: "I hope that people watching will note the way that Reece starts, little by little, to take control of Ashley's life, and if they can see that that's happening to them or someone they know, they'll do something about it – talk about it, get some more information... something".
Sarah Hughes
Sarah Elizabeth Hughes (born May 2, 1985) is a former American competitive figure skater. She is the 2002 Olympic Champion and the 2001 World bronze medalist in ladies' singles.
Personal life
Hughes was born in Great Neck, New York, a subur ...
of ''The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' wrote that the "veracity" of the story and the young ages of the characters "marks tapart" from similar works.
The programme won a Royal Television Society
The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...
Award for best Single Drama in 2014, and Campbell won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in 2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
, ahead of bookmakers' favourite Sheridan Smith
Sheridan Caroline Sian Smith OBE (born 25 June 1981) is an English actress, singer and television personality. Smith came to prominence after playing a variety of characters on sitcoms such as ''The Royle Family'' (1999–2000), ''Two Pints o ...
.
This drama was released on DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
on 21 September 2015.
References
External links
*
*
Murdered by My Boyfriend
' - BBC Academy
The BBC Academy is an educational arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation which trains current and prospective broadcasting employees in the skills of the Broadcasting industry, in addition to training the corporation's own staff and prospect ...
* {{cite web, author=Smith, Kelly, url=https://www.shoutoutuk.org/2014/07/22/domestic-violence-eye-opener-murdered-boyfriend/, title=Domestic Violence Eye-opener: Murdered by My Boyfriend, date=2014-07-22, work=Shout Out UK
Shout Out UK (SOUK) is a non-partisan social enterprise, based in the United Kingdom. Its mission is to strengthen democracy by providing training and programmes on media literacy and political literacy.
Shout Out UK was formed in August 201 ...
"Murdered by My Boyfriend, BBC One, review: 'convincing'"
2014 in British television
2014 plays
2014 television films
2014 films
BBC television dramas
Domestic violence in television
Murder in television