“A Stupid, Stupid, Stupid Series”: Labour MP Lambasts ITV Drama ‘The Walk-In’ In Parliament
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A Labour MP who was the target of a far-right murder plot depicted in Jeff Pope’s Stephen Graham-starring ITV drama The Walk-In has lambasted the broadcaster for its “stupid, stupid, stupid series.”
Speaking in the UK’s House of Commons yesterday, Rosie Cooper said she has had death threats since the series was broadcast and claimed she had been used as a “marketing tool” by ITV.
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ITV Studios’ The Walk-In, which ended earlier this week and was watched by millions of viewers, starred Graham as Hope not Hate activist Matthew Collins, who infiltrated a far-right gang and got a tip-off in 2017 about a threat to Cooper which led to the arrest and imprisonment of a neo-Nazi who had bought a machete to kill the West Lancashire MP.
Cooper said she was “appalled” at her treatment by ITV.
“What excuse is there for a press release that says, ‘Who is Rosie Cooper and who wanted to murder her’? There is no defence to that,” she said, according to the BBC.
Death threats have got worse since the show, added Cooper, who called The Walk-In a “stupid, stupid, stupid series.” She also recalled how she had been granted a government car at the end of one related trial because “ITV’s despicable cameraman chased me up and down the road”.
ITV, which has also aired a documentary on the incident, said the show was conducted “overwhelmingly in the public interest.”
“We always conduct the making of these series carefully and responsibly,” added a statement. “From Hillsborough, Bloody Sunday, Appropriate Adult, Little Boy Blue and A Confession to The Lost Honour of Christopher Jeffries, ITV has a long record of broadcasting factual dramas based on or representing real events.”
A spokesman for Hope Not Hate backed the drama and said, since it aired, several current and former members of the organized far right have been in touch with the campaign group seeking support to leave.
“Clearly, we are disappointed to hear Rosie’s words in the chamber today. In 2017, several members of our organization worked tirelessly and at tremendous sacrifice to themselves to foil the murder plot against Rosie Cooper,” added the spokesman.
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