Grenfell: The First 24 Hours review – a hard-to-watch film that only served to reinforce the sense of outrage

One year on, the Grenfell Tower fire has lost none of its capacity to shock and appal. Grenfell: The First 24 Hours (ITV) was one of a number of documentaries marking the first anniversary of the tragedy, which left 72 dead and hundreds more homeless in June last year. The spare, deceptively simple format – juxtaposing eyewitness phone footage of the fire as it progressed, alongside the testimony of survivors, bereaved relatives and a fireman on duty that night – made it one of the most affecting.

In a documentary specifically focused on timescale, what was undoubtedly most shocking were the images of the fire racing up the east side of the building before spreading through the building. 

Video footage of fire fighters arriving after the first 999 call to tackle the kitchen blaze that started the disaster made the rescue operation look desperately inadequate. From the outset there was disbelief and distress in the voices of those looking on from outside as the fire took hold on the exterior of the building and spread skywards.

“That’s not fireproof. It’s not fireproof! “ a bystander was captured shouting in disbelief – perhaps the first person to realise the enormity of the disaster that was about to unfold. Certainly, from the vast quantities of molten debris filmed raining down on the ground below as the flames engulfed the building, neither hindsight nor expert insight was needed to judge the contribution made to the fire by the cladding.

“Get out! Get out,” was the constant cry of those gathered below to those in the flats above. And while this wasn’t a documentary that set out to blame, the Fire Brigade’s “stay put” policy – which advised residents to stay in their flats and await rescue – was contrasted repeatedly with the testimony of the survivors interviewed, all of whom made a conscious decision to ignore it, and escaped with their lives.

So much pain, so much grief, so much trauma. Grenfell: The First 24 Hours was a hard-to-watch film, which, even-handed as it was, only served to reinforce the sense of outrage that such a tragedy could still happen in Britain in this day and age.