BBC Announces Jimmy McGovern Drama On Racist Attack Victim Anthony Walker
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“Anthony,” a commissioned 90-minute drama about Anthony Walker, a Black teenager who was murdered in a racist attack in Liverpool in 2005, will air on BBC One.
Inspired by conversations with Anthony’s mother Gee Walker, “Anthony” is written by Jimmy McGovern, BAFTA-winner for “The Street” and “Hillsborough.” The drama looks at what Anthony’s life could have been had he lived, before dealing with his death.
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Gee Walker said: “I went to Jimmy because I couldn’t think of anyone more suited who could depict, highlight and draw attention to the hard messages of a life not lived – Anthony’s unfilled dreams, his potentials and the many lives he would have impacted on – which now will never be realized.”
“I’d known Gee Walker for many years and every time I had needed to write about loss or grief I had gone to her and she had always been generous with her time and her profound wisdom,” McGovern said. “But one day she came to me and asked me to write about her beloved Anthony. I said, ‘Gee, if you’re asking such a thing, I feel I have a God-given duty to do it.’ And so I did it.”
Anthony Walker is played by Toheeb Jimoh (“The Feed”) and Rakie Ayola (“Noughts + Crosses”) is played by Gee Walker.
“Anthony” is directed by Terry McDonough (“Killing Eve”) and produced by Donna Molloy and Colin McKeown for LA Productions (“Moving On”). It is commissioned by Piers Wenger, controller of BBC Drama, and Charlotte Moore, director of BBC Content.
“When commissioning drama linked to real life, we consider carefully the individual lives at the heart of the drama but also the wider societal story it might tell,” Wenger said. “‘Anthony’ is a case in point. A unique blend of fiction and reality, steered by Jimmy McGovern’s conversations with Anthony’s mother Gee Walker, it is the story of a young man who tragically lost his life but also of a life he might have led.”
The film will be distributed internationally by ITV Studios.
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