Jeff Pope to write and exec produce factual mini-series

The BBC has commissioned a factual drama about the events surrounding the murder of Sarah Everard, helmed by Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes scribe Jeff Pope.

The 2 x 60-minute, as-yet untitled BBC1 drama will be produced by Pope’s ITV Studios label Etta Pictures, with Pope writing and exec producing.

It will examine how, in 2021, Everard was abducted as she walked home from a friend’s house in Clapham and murdered by serving police officer Wayne Couzens.

It will focus on the circumstances that allowed a sexual offender to become and remain a Metropolitan Police officer, with significant evidence of sexual offending repeatedly dismissed across his career. The drama will also consider the impact these failings have had on public confidence in policing.

The production team are in contact with Everard’s family and will not feature pictures of Couzens next to her in the programme.

Pope has a long track record of factual drama, based on high-profile police cases. He wrote ITV1’s 2017 Little Boy Blue, which looks at the 2007 murder of Rhys Jones in Liverpool, and 2025 Disney+ factual drama Suspect: The Shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes.

He also exec produced BBC1’s 2023 factual drama series about Jimmy Savile, The Reckoning.

Pope said: “Wayne Couzens should never have been a police officer, but opportunities to deny him that privilege were missed. That he was still a serving officer on the night of 3 March 2021, after committing numerous sexual offences over a long period of time, was a tragedy waiting to happen, and the key question asked by this drama.”

BBC drama director Lindsay Salt, who ordered the project, added: “Drama has a unique ability to sensitively and respectfully tackle real life subjects and this series will explore the impact of this horrific crime, the misogyny and failings from within the Met Police and what lessons can be learnt.

“Award-winning writer Jeff Pope will treat this with the utmost care, helping to ensure that the issues that led to Sarah Everard’s murder remain in the public consciousness for years to come, whilst continuing to hold the police to account.”

The exec producers alongside Pope are Saurabh Kakkar and Kirsty Cunningham for Etta Pictures and Nick Lambon for the BBC.