Verbatim Grenfell Tower Inquiry play to broadcast on Channel 4

A verbatim play based on transcripts from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry will broadcast on Channel 4.

Grenfell: Value Engineering – Scenes from The Inquiry is a not-for-profit piece which originally ran in 2021, first at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill and later the Birmingham Repertory Theatre.

The play, edited by Richard Norton-Taylor and directed and produced by Nicolas Kent, is based directly on transcripts from inquiry into the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in which more than 70 people were killed.

A filmed version of the production from the run at The Tabernacle is to air on Channel 4 and stream online via All 4 under the title Grenfell. It will broadcast and stream over two parts on Sunday, 12 June at 10:30PM and Monday, 13 June at 11:05PM.

Caroline Hollick, Head of Channel 4 Drama said: “I’m proud that Channel 4 is able to bring this extraordinary verbatim play to our screens. It is an utterly shocking indictment of the tragic mistakes, corporate greed and buck-passing of so many involved with the Grenfell tragedy – it’s hard to imagine a fictional drama cutting quite as close to the bone.”

Producer and Director Nicolas Kent added: “In the heart of one of the richest Boroughs in Europe 72 people died in the horrific circumstances of the Grenfell Tower fire, and this play looks at the causes, failures and those responsible for this tragedy, and how we can try to ensure that it never happens again.

“When last Autumn we produced the play close to the Grenfell site the production was welcomed by the 4 main Grenfell support organisations. We were regularly told by residents that they hoped it would have a future life as they believed it important that people kept talking about the systemic failures which led to the fire. We are pleased that Channel 4 has now made it possible for the play to reach a much larger audience.”

The production has design by Matt Eagland & Miki Jablkowska, Sound by Andy Graham & Matt Price, Video by Jack Fone and Costume by Carly Brownbridge.

The cast of the filmed production is Ron Cook, Thomas Wheatley, Sally Giles, David Michaels, Daniel Betts, Claire Lams, Tim Lewis, Phill Langhorne, Derek Elroy, David Robb, Sam Buchanan, Howard Ward and Polly Kemp.