New BBC drama Four Lives portrays the story of four men who were murdered by Stephen Port. It also covers the following police investigation, that was so defective that an inquest jury recently found that it probably contributed to three of the four deaths.
The three-part drama stars Sheridan Smith as Sarah Sak, mother of Port’s first victim Anthony Walgate, and Kris Hitchen plays Tom, father of Anthony (although the two divorced many years ago). Usual funny man Stephen Merchant steps into a rather gruesome role as Stephen Port.
The Guardian noted ‘the usual great work of Sheridan Smith’, The Telegraph called it ‘quite simply as good as true-crime TV drama gets’, and described Sheridan’s performance with great merit, ‘Smith brings a humanity and a realness to the role that few other actresses could match’. The Independent gave it four stars stating, ‘If Merchant is a convincing villain, Sheridan Smith is an equally believable hero: heartbroken, practical, dogged’.
Four Lives is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now