Based on a true story that shocked a nation, Little Boy Blue is a powerful four-part factual drama, from BAFTA-winning writer and executive producer Jeff Pope (Appropriate Adult) that centres on the devastating impact on a city of an innocent child’s murder amid a wave of gang violence.
Set to premiere on ITV Choice (DStv 123) on Wednesday, May 17 at 8pm, Little Boy Blue focuses on the murder of 11‐year‐old Rhys Jones in Croxteth, Liverpool, in 2007. It explores the parent’s ordeal, and tells the story of how Rhys’s murderer and associates were eventually brought to justice.
Stephen Graham (This is England) takes the role of Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly who led the investigation into Rhys’s murder on behalf of Merseyside Police, while Sinead Keenan (Being Human) and Brían F.O’Byrne (Million Dollar Baby, Prime Suspect) play the boy’s parents Melanie and Steve Jones.
Close to the truth as possible
The filmmakers have been at pains to point out that the series has had the full support and endorsement of the real Melanie and Steve Jones who have said: “Our decision to get involved with Little Boy Blue stemmed principally from a desire to honour our son, Rhys, whom we lost 10 years ago this year. It is very important to us, and our other son, Owen, to keep his memory alive and for people to understand how important he was to us. But beyond this we saw this as an opportunity to let the public see what happens to a family like ours in a situation like this.
“We wanted to show how the pressures we were placed under, the huge weight of grief thrust upon us, the endless waiting, not knowing if we would get justice for Rhys, can tear a family apart. We spoke very openly to the programme makers about what we went through because we wanted to let (those) involved in Rhys’s murder know that our sentence never ends.
“Our pain will only fade, it will never go away. And that by trying to avoid the consequences of their actions they only increased that pain. We wanted them to know that there is no ‘closure’ for us -‐ even from a guilty verdict, because it cannot give us what we want, our son back. But if we can get people to understand this, and if by showing what we went through we can help other people who might find themselves in the future put in the same, horrendous, position that we were, then this will have all been worthwhile.”
Filmed on location in Liverpool and the North West, Little Boy Blue was produced by Kwadjo Dajan (Appropriate Adult) and directed by Paul Whittington (The Moorside).
What: Little Boy Blue
Where and when: Premiere on ITV Choice (DStv 123) on Wednesday, May 17 at 8pm
WS
