Russell Tovey, Emily Mortimer and Daniel Mays are set to star in a new Disney+ series about the shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the Standard can exclusively reveal.
Titled Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes, the series will explore the tragic story of Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian electrician who was fatally shot by the Met Police outside Stockwell tube station shortly after the 7/7 bombings.
Unbeknownst to the police, as they struggled to deal with the aftermath of the bombings, a new threat was looming: another attack, being planned in secret. When it failed, the Met’s attempts to find out who was responsible led to one of the nation’s biggest ever manhunts.
Tragically for de Menezes, he was misidentified as one of the perpetrators, and shot dead on July 27, 2005. The family’s resulting struggle for justice lasted for years.
De Menezes himself will be played by newcomer Edison Alcaide, while Mortimer will be playing Cressida Dick, who was then the commander of the operation in charge of tracking down the suspects for the bombings. Max Beesley will play Assistant Commissioner Andy Hayman, while Alex Jennings plays Michael Mansfield KC, who represented the De Menezes family in the inquest into the shooting.
Conleth Hill will play Sir Ian Blair, the then-Met Police Commissioner, while Tovey will play one of his deputies – and Daniel Mays will play Cliff Todd, the Principal Forensic Investigator in the aftermath of the bombings. Gavin and Stacey’s Laura Aikman will also be appearing as Lana Vandenberghe, a secretary at the Independent Police Complaints Commission who plays a pivotal role in the unfolding of events.
The drama will be written and executive produced by Jeff Pope (who also worked on Judi Dench film Philomena) and will be coming to the platform in Spring 2025. It has also been produced in consultation with de Menezes’ family.
“This is an incredibly important story to tell, and we’ve got a heavyweight ensemble cast in place that will help us examine the events that led to the tragic shooting of the innocent Jean Charles de Menezes,” Pope said.
“He was just a commuter who was tracked for nearly an hour with surveillance failing to correctly identify him, before he was shot dead on a crowded tube train, leaving his family to try and shine a light on the critical errors that led to this devastating tragedy.”
Other contributors include executive producers Kwadjo Dajan and Paul Andrew Williams, as well as Lee Mason, Disney+’s Executive Director of Scripted.
