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Must Watch reviews: ‘Suspect: Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes’

Every week the Must Watch podcasters review the biggest TV and streaming shows.

This week, Hayley Campbell and Scott Bryan Naga Munchetty to review ‘Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes’.

It’s a four-part series on Disney+. It’s written and created by Jeff Pope, who also wrote The Reckoning - the Jimmy Savile docudrama series starring Steve Coogan.

His latest series is set in the aftermath of the 7/7 bombings, and focuses on the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician who was shot dead by Met Police officers at Stockwell station. They wrongly identified him as one of the fugitives involved in the previous day’s failed bombing attempts.

What do the Must Watch team make of it?

What do the Must Watch reviewers think of ‘Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes’?

Scott and Hayley give their views on ‘Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes’

Naga: “Scott, a must watch?”

I think it becomes more compelling the more you watch it"

Scott: “It is for me. It isn't faultless. I think it becomes more compelling the more you watch it.

“I think it is a very detailed drama and that is a strength I think, but it can be a little bit sort of inaccessible I think initially.

“I think it's very well thought through. It's got a clear agenda I think of highlighting where the Metropolitan Police failed but never loses sight of the terrible loss of Jean Charles and the consequences it meant for his family.

“And I think it's also highlighting the power of drama because there have been documentaries on this subject.“

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Scott: “I think we reviewed one in November but I think it's the fact that you have the scene, the awful scene where Jean is killed and he's killed in Stockwell's tube station and it's the fact that when this event happened, I mean, it happened so quickly that I don’t think Jean even had time to what was happening to him.

“But it's also the fact that, and we've mentioned this before in regards to the documentary, you learn about how at the time, I think many of us just from following the news reports, heard witness statements to say that he had jumped the barriers, Jean had, and that he was being chased away, and that he had been acting suspiciously but as this drama highlights time and time again, that just didn't happen.

“I mean, he had walked calmly through Stockwell tube station. He'd picked up a copy of the paper. He was reading it on the train. The people who then jumped the barriers were actually the firearms officers who were trying to apprehend Jean.

“It's an incredibly powerful, very difficult scene but I think it really hones in on that and how that had been, that sort of myth had then been perpetuated…The Met police had released a statement to say that they had killed an innocent person, they still maintained the lie to say that this was a person who had been acting suspiciously, when he had done nothing of the sort.”

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Scott: “I thought the drama was very well thought through. Yet also, a bit of a surprise that this has ended up on Disney+. The person who commissioned it is Lee Mason, who also commissioned ‘Rivals’, who did ‘It's a Sin’.

I thought the drama was very well thought through"

“I think Lee got a very good eye at choosing the right story. A surprise, I think, this has not been on the BBC. This feels like a very public service broadcasting drama rather than one on the streaming service, but I found it comprehensive and informative.

“The only hesitation I have is that it is very, very detailed, and perhaps I felt a bit too detailed at parts, but I thought the emotional impact was certainly there and evident.”

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Naga: “Hayley?”

It also does a really good job of showing the atmosphere of fear and chaos that led to everything happening"

Hayley: “Yeah, I agree with Scott. I thought it was really good. Jeff Pope, he's not afraid to write about dark, horrible things, and this one doesn't shy away from the dark, horrible things.

“Like Scott says, there are some bits that are very graphic, very detailed, and might be too much for some people to see. I’m generally of the opinion that I don't like things to be softened if it's true. I want to know what happened.

“It's rightly unforgiving of its portrayal of the police, at least around the deception or the self-preservation when it all happened.

“But it also does a really good job of showing the atmosphere of fear and chaos that led to everything happening. I think if you start watching it and feel like you've seen it before because you watched the recent 7/7 documentary on BBC Two, keep going.”

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Naga: “It was excellent.”

Hayley: “It was excellent. The first episode of this is very much focused on the initial attack and so it felt like it was covering ground that I knew. But as it goes on, the focus shifts to what happened later.

“And the fourth episode is the inquest, which I don't at all from the documentary. So it does branch off.

“And in fact, Jeff Pope has been critical of the BBC Two documentary and one on Channel 4 called ‘Shoot to Kill’, because he thought they didn't go in into enough detail around the shooting, and neither of them included testimony from the 17 witnesses on the carriage that said no police shouted a warning, which is something that is a huge point in this drama.

“I found the stuff in Brazil to be incredibly moving with his family. Like you say, it's not perfect. I thought there was a bit of clunky dialogue towards the end that kind of summed everything up in a way that felt like they were doing it for speed. But it is generally very good.”

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Naga: “I reported, as you well know, around the time of the 7/7 bombings and I I was working for Channel 4 News at the time and I was one of the producers working on a recreation of what happened with Jean Charles de Menezes.

“So I know this really, really well, the details and kind of right up to the inquest. And when I started watching it, I thought it was hammy. I thought that there was quite a bit of hammy acting in it, do you know what I mean.

“And I was just, I was so disappointed and I thought this is just not going to tell the story that people should know. People should understand the way we as a country responded to a terror attack, the police, Metropolitan Police and the narrative that was happening and there's a very powerful scene and we've seen it before where there's an Asian man who has a rucksack on the tube and everyone is looking. That happened. I don't know if you guys were in London.“

Hayley: “No, I wasn't.”

Scott: “I wasn't, no.”

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Naga: “So I lived in London at the time. And it was happening everywhere to everyone who was Asian or black. And you knew it. You were being looked at. And I just think those tiny things that were happening, and we were all aware of, and I'm not spoiling anything by saying this man knows he's been looked at, everyone's looking at him, but not saying anything.

“He starts emptying his rucksack, taking out his laptop, and then turning it over. Everyone still doesn't say anything, though they know what they've done. But they can't blame themselves for doing what they have done, because everyone was so scared in London at that time, because we were under attack.

“So this story in itself means a lot to me. So when I started watching it and I saw this hamminess, honestly, my head was in my hands. I've watched the first episode and I'm actually going to rewatch it with my partner and watch it, watch the whole series. I'm really glad it gets better. But the detail, I think one of those things, that 7/7 doc was really, really good and it doesn't leave you, does it? Because of the people they interview.

“I think, I'm hoping this will be something that doesn't leave me because I think there are certain stories in our history, in modern history… it's so poignant seeing as we've just done VE-Day, the commemorations and we're hearing those stories.

“This will be one of our stories of how things went wrong and how society changed. Anyway, maybe that was all a bit deep, but I'm really, really looking forward to watching this. Really, really, looking forward to it. Is it a must watch for you, Hayley?”

Hayley: “It is.”

All four episodes of ‘Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes’ are available to watch on Disney+ now.

But before all that, why not Scott and Hayley with the shows you’ve been loving, loathing or lamenting on [email protected].

This week, the team reviewed ‘Cheat: Unfinished Business’ and ‘Silence is Golden’.

Must Watch is released as a podcast every Monday evening on BBC Sounds.

As always, we like to include your reviews - on shows you love, loathe or lament.

Message @bbc5live on social media using the hashtag #bbcmustwatch or email [email protected].

Ruthie sent her thoughts about ‘Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes’…

“It is a completely shocking story and told incredibly well. Jeff Pope contextualises the shooting by focussing episode one solely on the bomb attacks that preceded it, giving as much grace as could be given to the Met and the circumstances they were operating in. But in no way does this detract from the catalogue of errors that resulted in a tragedy that should never have happened.

“Just like Mr Bates vs The Post Office, it exposes the conspiracy to conceal the truth that too often takes place within powerful institutions at the expense of those who can’t defend themselves, in this case the Met police at the expense of Jean Charles de Menezes and his family. Whilst it shouldn’t be the responsibility of TV dramas to bring public attention to such injustices, they can be hugely impactful by telling an emotive story to people who, like myself, may otherwise not know about it.”

Dave’s been in touch with another Australian series recommendation..

“I just wanted to let you know about another really great Australian comedy series which may have been overlooked. The show is called ‘Upper Middle Bogan’.

“The plot is not that unique - Bess is a middle-class physician with a perfect life. After learning she's adopted, her shock compounds when she meets her birth family.

“I nearly ditched it after one or two episodes but it quickly showed some teeth, some very funny developments and kept me chuckling through 3 series. Each episode is under 30 minutes.

“The cast includes Patrick Brammall (Colin from s). It’s currently on ITV X, Netflix and Prime.”

Mark emailed us about ‘Hacks’…

“I just wanted to say a thank you to Scott and Hayley for recommending the excellent Hacks on Sky. It's not something I think I would have sought out particularly if it wasn't for their recommendation, but I have binged series 1-3 and currently watching series 4.

“It's absolutely brilliant, great cast, writing, everything. The main two characters are great but it's the ing cast and characters that really add to the show and make it a 100% must watch.”

Aly emailed us about ‘Four Seasons’…

“Four Season is the best four hours of dark but heartwarming comedy I can ever watching. (Barring perhaps Ghosts UK version).

“I feel jealous of anyone who gets to watch it for the first time.”