Not to be confused with the long-running ITV drama of the same name, London’s Burning is a one-off hour-long dramatisation of some of the events during the rioting and looting that took place in London in August 2011. Due to be broadcast on Channel Four on Thursday 22 December 2011, the play follows the events during one night in the Clapham Junction area of London.
The show stars David Morrissey and Samantha Bond as senior police officers and looks at how the residents and businesses in the busy area of south London dealt with the events as the violence erupted.
On the night in question, more than 400 young people protested and rioted in the area around Clapham Junction. The drama is based on reports from six people who lived and worked in the area about what happened that night. Four of the six are a hairdresser, party shop owner, family man and music shop manager.
The Actors in London’s Burning
English actor David Morrissey recently starred as Murray Devlin in The Field of Blood, Robert Carne in South Riding, Jan Falkowski in U Be Dead, Mal Craig in Five Days and Tom Thorne in Thorne. Highlights from the rest of his career include playing Gordon Brown in The Deal, for which he won the RTS Television Award for best male actor, and as Stephen Collins in State of Play for which he received a Bafta nomination. He is also a director, and received another Bafta nomination for best new director for Sweet Revenge.
Samantha Bond is perhaps best known for playing Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond movies Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World in Not Enough and Die Another Day. Her television career started in 1983 when she played Maria Bertram in the mini-series Mansfield Park. She went on to be Liz Probert in Rumpole of the Bailey. Other recurring TV roles have included Sarah Baylis in Tears Before Bedtime, Miss Moneypence in Brand Spanking New Show, Lisa Shore in Distant Shores, Mrs Wormwood in The Sarah Jane Adventures and Angela in Outnumbered. More recently, she was Lady Rosamund Painswick in Downton Abbey. This is also not her first experience of Clapham Junction having played Marion Rowan in the TV movie Clapham Junction.
The Team Behind London’s Burning
London's Burning was directed by Justin Hardy and written by Mark Hayhurst. The executive producer was Samir Smith and the programme was produced for Channel Four by Juniper Films.
Steve Rogerson - Steve Rogerson is a UK-based writer specialising in television, technology, sports and beer.
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