Shoot to Kill: Terror on the Tube – a 'raw' and 'riveting' docuseries
Channel 4's 'gripping' two-parter explores the Metropolitan Police's killing of Jean Charles de Menezes in the aftermath of 7/7
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
"Shoot to Kill: Terror on the Tube" is a "mesmerising feat of documentary-making", said Rebecca Nicholson in The Guardian.
For the first time since the fatal shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes on 22 July 2005, the Metropolitan Police officer who killed him gives a "raw and detailed interview" about the events that led to the Brazilian electrician's death.
De Menezes was on his way to repair a broken fire alarm when he was shot and killed in an underground carriage at Stockwell station. In a tragic case of mistaken identity, police wrongly suspected De Menezes as being one of the suicide bombers who took part in a failed copycat attack two weeks after the 7/7 London bombings.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The first instalment of the "gripping" two-part series is "all atmosphere", said Nicholson, capturing the "palpable nervousness and anxiety" of Londoners in the aftermath of the attack. Commuters were already "frightened and jittery" when, just two weeks after the bombings that killed 52 people on 7/7, another four bombers attempted to detonate explosives on the underground, failing to go through with it only because their devices didn't go off.
The Metropolitan Police officer's "minute-by-minute" first-hand account of the events that led to the tragic mistake is "riveting", said Anita Singh in The Telegraph. From the "grainy, faxed image of the real suspect" to the surveillance officers who identified De Menezes as a potential bomber, we gradually find out how it went so wrong.
Despite the then Met commissioner Cressida Dick's instruction to stop De Menezes getting on the Tube being "woefully unclear", the police officer avoids criticising the higher powers at the Met. And he stops short of offering an apology to the innocent man's family. "Ultimately our sympathy should be for Mr de Menezes, killed on what should have been an ordinary journey to work."
Perhaps the series was a little rushed in its examination of the serious errors made by the Met Police, said Nicholson in The Guardian. But it "untangles the mess made" in the aftermath of the shooting, allowing those who were there that day to "give their version of events". It's a "compelling" watch.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Irenie Forshaw is the features editor at The Week, covering arts, culture and travel. She began her career in journalism at Leeds University, where she wrote for the student newspaper, The Gryphon, before working at The Guardian and The New Statesman Group. Irenie then became a senior writer at Elite Traveler, where she oversaw The Experts column.
-
Political cartoons for February 17Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include a refreshing spritz of Pam, winter events, and more
-
Alexei Navalny and Russia’s history of poisoningsThe Explainer ‘Precise’ and ‘deniable’, the Kremlin’s use of poison to silence critics has become a ’geopolitical signature flourish’
-
Are Hollywood ‘showmances’ losing their shine?In The Spotlight Teasing real-life romance between movie leads is an old Tinseltown publicity trick but modern audiences may have had enough
-
The biggest box office flops of the 21st centuryin depth Unnecessary remakes and turgid, expensive CGI-fests highlight this list of these most notorious box-office losers
-
Mail incoming: 9 well-made products to jazz up your letters and cardsThe Week Recommends Get the write stuff
-
The 8 best superhero movies of all timethe week recommends A genre that now dominates studio filmmaking once struggled to get anyone to take it seriously
-
One great cookbook: Joshua McFadden’s ‘Six Seasons of Pasta’the week recommends The pasta you know and love. But ever so much better.
-
How to navigate dating apps to find ‘the one’The Week Recommends Put an end to endless swiping and make real romantic connections
-
February TV brings the debut of an adult animated series, the latest batch of ‘Bridgerton’ and the return of an aughts sitcomthe week recommends An animated lawyers show, a post-apocalyptic family reunion and a revival of a hospital comedy classic
-
Caribbean resorts that call for serious rest and relaxationThe Week Recommends Serenity is a flight away
-
February’s books feature new Toni Morrison, a sapphic love tale and a criticism of Mexican historyThe Week Recommends This month’s new releases include ‘Autobiography of Cotton’ by Cristina Rivera Garza, ‘Language as Liberation’ by Toni Morrison and ‘Heap Earth Upon It’ by Chloe Michelle Howarth