In an update on my article on the London Riots – Lessons and Aftermath I mentioned a documentary based on research done by the Guardian newspaper & the London School of Ecomonics about the riots based on testimony from the rioters themselves and the police which ended up having a court order put on it to stop it from being aired.

It seems this court order was put out due to a Birmingham judge not wanting it to be shown because of trial relating to riots which was happening at that moment but I actually believe it was done to stop the show putting London in a bad light just before the olympics. If you didn’t see them you can now catch them on BBC iPlayer – there are only a few days left on these before they are taken down but the page also has the dates when the documentary is going to be reshown

It is an amazing documentary – the first part used the exact transcripts of the interview taken with the rioters (renacted by actors and with names changed to protect anonymity). The range of people that were interviewed that participated in the riots were wide from teachers, friends of the Duggan family & gang members to tourists, mentally ill and the young. It was deep and was the sort of enquiry that the government should have done. There were many reasons for the riots occurring that could be got from this research (beyond the fatal shooting of Mark Duggan which was the obvious catalyst for the riots), but not one over riding reason that could tell you this is why the riots occurred.

The second part contained interviews with the police (this time the real police interviews rather than an reinactment) at all levels and gave a real insight of the experience of the riots from the police perspective and too see how much of a surprise it was for them as well as some of the red tape they had to go through in there response to the riots.

All in all in was an amazing show and well worth a watch into the biggest riots on our streets in decades, it shouldn’t be ignored