Little Boy Blue, anyone watching

[dingit]

Very upsetting start.

Well he's a very good actor. I found his character (Jordan) very frightening and realistic.
He did well.

He played a good part, he frightened the life out of me! His mum looked so tiny in comparison.

Agree herethere we lived for 10 years in L6 (months roads if that means anything to you) and in that time we saw it change massively. At first, it was a great community where everyone looked out for everyone else and there was a 'you don't shit on your own doorstep' attitude. Latterly, it became full of drugs, tenants moving in and out so no sense of community, youths hanging around, vandalism, knife crime. We moved out of the area. I still love it and the city is great and I won't hear a word said against it but there are definite pockets where the lowest of the low congregate.

I was in tears watching it.
I also heard people complaining because it was clear the theme park was Blackpool. Then I also heard other people saying why does it matter where they filmed it, as it's not important

I'm pleased the programme is so well acted because it would have been disrespectful otherwise. I think it's easy to just paint everything black and white, good Vs scum, if you go off newspaper articles alone but something like this makes you look at it all in more detail.

I felt really sorry for Jordan. His mum said that he was hospitalised when his 'friends' thought he was a grass. He had ADHD and was basically bullied (his nickname was Latch because he just latches onto anyone). Can you imagine how scared he was at the thought of being labelled a grass again? Also how strong his mum was to tell the truth despite knowing all that?

The worst thing you can do is just view people as good or bad, because that lack of understanding will never solve anything.

I'm actually worried that i come across as disrespectful now. My heart absolutely goes out to the Jones family. I just wanted to say that i could see how Jordan had been manipulated, just as 'kevin' had been, and things shouldn't be seen as two dimensional. However saying that i loathe mercer, Yates and Quinn and cannot see another perspective to them whatsoever.

No not disrespectful at all, I think this programme shows very clearly that the decisions made by some of the adults were based on complex issues. Latch's Mum did the right thing didn't she...he was apparently only 15 at the time and being manipulated by older teenagers for their own ends.

We have seen that Mercer's Mum was a completely differently kettle of fish and very complicit in hiding her son.

I also think the actor portraying Jordan did a great job of showing how his aggression towards his Mum was in response to fear of the repercussions he might face. He was shouting at her but he was also so scared and that eventually came across when he cried and begged her not to tell. She did the right thing and made a clear statement to the police that the perpetrator had been to her house that evening.

Alfie, what we don't know is if Latch was ordinarily hostile and aggressive to his mum, not just under that specific circumstance.

Alfie
The Liverpool ECHO also reported that during her son’s 11-week-trial, Jeanette Mercer worked as a £50-a-time sex worker in a city brothel, under the alias of her daughter’s name, Danielle.

Different kettle of fish indeed.

Just catching up with the thread but @herethereandeverywhere this a million times

The line between decent families and scumbags - it breaks my heart that kids are raised to be 'scumbags' unwittingly or intentionally but it is true and it has been going on for a long time (see Jamie Bulger murder as another Merseyside example). One of the greatest social intervention exercises in recent times was the Surestart centres - attempting to catch families vulnerable tot his kind of upbringing before it's too late (and once they are a few years in to school, committing petty crime then it's too late). We need reversal of funding cuts to Surestart and much greater, kinder intervention much earlier on so we stop the creation of feral teenagers from families with no hope. I'm not apologising for the murderous scumbags, I just want to see less of them in the future.

So sad tonight too. So much fear.

Well he wasn't so tough once he was in prison was he?

Nope!

The fear is palpable isn't it

Hmmmmmm well it must be the kinds of parents I've dealt with again and again which made me more surprised by those in the programme encouraging their children to tell the truth than those colluding and telling their kids to lie and not worry about it.

I know its a dramatisation but Kevin didnt really seem to understand what he was signing up for when he signed the Section 71!

No, he definitely didn't, I agree.

Superb acting tonight. So realistic.

another one from L6 area, although have now since moved.

Religious Streets, am sure a few posters will recognise that hint

i think it has been very well acted and thoughtfully approached.

I don't think people watch it for entertainment, for me personally I wanted to know what happened with the investigation as it was a tragedy that happened so close to home.

I wish I could say that this crime turned things around in Liverpool but nothing has really changed in regards to gang culture or violent crime

The acting is superb. Feels like I am intruding on someone's private grief.

And the guys playing mercer and Yates are outstanding. As someone said up thread, the fear is palpable.

Kev and his family - I have no words, decent people living amongst some feral lowlife

It's like an L6 reunion! My family are/were between where the 'new' estate of Beatles roads are and West Derby Road. Every one including me worked in Ogdens at some point. I never went the Grafton but my nan loved it....

Apologies for the frivolity - I need to find a way to watch the series. I can't get UK TV so I'm hoping for some sort of web stream or something at some point. Read in the Echo about yet more scumbags who beat an alcoholic/homeless man to death a few years ago, TV programme was on Sky the other night. Dreadful.

I find this so difficult to watch. I have to take myself away after each episode just to have a breather.

Incredible acting, it will stay with me for a long time. That poor little boy.

Did Rhys' parents stay together in real life? I know a lot of marriages crumble under such tragic circumstances, which is understandable, but I really hope they've managed to stay together.

They are still together I think. I think Rhys' dad still works at Tesco, possibly his mum too.

It is on YouTube. Excellently made. Best thing I have seen for a while. Very respectfully done.

Thanks Rainbow - hopefully it will be accessible to me via YouTube, though it will be a hard, hard watch. I have never been able to bring myself to watch the Jimmy McGovern 'Hillsborough' drama because it would just be too disturbing. I feel I should watch this as Rhys' parents want their story to be heard.