EXCLUSIVE: Jeff Pope, creator of Disney+ drama Suspect, has criticized recent BBC and Channel 4 documentaries on the London bombings for showing “what was essentially the Metropolitan Police-approved version of what happened” to Jean Charles de Menezes.
The Oscar nominee said Suspect: The Killing of Jean Charles de Menezes, which launches April 30, gives a “no holds barred version” of the tragic death of the Brazilian electrician. Pope’s drama tells the story of events surrounding the killing of de Menezes by police officers on the London underground, who mistook him for a suspect in the failed bomb attack that took place two weeks after the devastating 7/7 bombings in July 2005.
While Pope noted that the BBC’s 7/7: The London Bombings and Channel 4’s Shoot to Kill: Terror on the Tube were “great pieces of work” and the BBC show had “astonishing material,” he said “when it came to specifically the shooting of Jean Charles [de Menezes], my strong feeling was that what we saw was essentially the Met [Police]-approved version of what happened.”
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Pope claimed the documentaries failed to detail how, during de Menezes’ inquest, an initial version of events that found police had shouted warnings at de Menezes before shooting him and that he had behaved in a suspicious manner and advanced towards them was disproved. “It’s interesting that there were 17 members of the public in the carriage that morning and not one of them said they heard any police officer shout a warning,” said Pope. “That detail was not in either of the docs and I think it’s a really significant and important detail.”
Deadline contacted the BBC and Channel 4 and both pushed back firmly on Pope’s remarks. Both shows go into great depth and feature multiple views on the attack.
Neil Grant, who exec produced the BBC’s doc, said: “The focus of four-part BBC series 7/7: The London Bombings is an immersive retelling of events across three weeks, of which the shooting of Jean Charles De Menezes is just one part. It does not give any voice to police claims, which were later disputed, that warnings were given before the shooting. The series was meticulous, fair, and impartial. We stand by the carefully considered editorial decisions made in producing this critically acclaimed series.”
Adam Wishart, who directed the BBC doc, has previously told us his team wanted to pose the question: “What is the purpose of public authorities?”
A Channel 4 spokesman added of Pope’s remarks: “Shoot To Kill: Terror on the Tube is an accurate portrayal of the events of July 2025, based on factual evidence that exists in the public domain. The series includes contributions from across senior levels of government, the security services, the Metropolitan Police and civilians who lived through it. The perspective of the firearms officer who shot and killed De Menezes is one of several in a balanced and sensitive series examining one of the most significant moments in British public life.”
Family was “first port of call,” says Pope
Suspect, which Pope said is the “culmination of five years of work,” is neither a “Met-approved version” nor a “de Menezes family-approved version,” according to the Philomena writer, who stressed its “editorial independence.”
Nevertheless, he said de Menezes’ family was the “first port of call” when he and producer Kwadjo Dajan were researching Suspect and the show would likely not have happened without their say-so.
“The reason we contacted the family was because we needed to explain to them what we were planning, and we needed to gauge how they felt about that,” he added. “Maria de Menezes lost her son, the worst thing that could ever happen in life, and here we are saying we would like to explore this in a four-part drama. If she could not have faced that then it is very difficult to envisage any scenario where we would have continued knowingly adding to the distress of a family.”
The de Menezes family in fact acted as consultants on the show. They attended Suspect’s screening earlier this month and Maria de Menezes told the BBC she had been “reassured that the truth was being told.” “They were going to be truthful about the story unlike other media outlets and other reports previously which told lies,” she was quoted by the BBC as saying.
Pope said his team also approached then-Met Police Chief Ian Blair and operation commander Cressida Dick to help with the show, but they declined.
Cressida Dick spent the inquiry “stonewalling”
During the Suspect research process, Pope said he became “angry,” firstly because the operation on that fateful day was “poorly planned and poorly executed,” and secondly because Dick had spent the inquiry into de Menezes’ death “stonewalling” and “refusing to accept that really anything went wrong.”
“The nearest she got to any admission of error or misjudgement was saying, ‘Sometimes things happen that in an ideal world wouldn’t happen’,” said Pope.
More than a decade after de Menezes’ death, Dick became chief of the Met Police, but she resigned just five years later after losing the confidence of the Mayor of London over her response to racism and misogyny in the force.
Dick is played by Emily Mortimer in Suspect and Pope said she got the part spot on. “There was something about the way Cressida gave evidence where she would pause, reflecting on what she was going to say before saying it, and there was a kind of deliberateness, which Emily captured,” added Pope.
Suspect also features top British and Irish acting talent including Game of Thrones star Hill, who portrays Blair, Russell Tovey and Max Beesley, while de Menezes is played by newcomer Edison Alcaide.
“We are in a difficult period at the moment”
Along with movies like Philomena and Stan & Ollie, Pope has written and produced a wealth of hit factual dramas down the years including Little Boy Blue, The Moorside and A Confession.
He spoke with Deadline as Netflix’s Adolescence tears up the streamer’s top-rating chart but with factual drama feeling more under threat than ever as broadcasters struggle to fund local stories.
“We are in a difficult period at the moment,” said Pope. “Budgets are tight not least because the big streamers have inflated the market. Wages are higher, ambitions are higher, budgets are higher and the terrestrial broadcasters have not been able to keep pace with that.”
He called for “government subsidies” to help sustain local shows, which could come in the form of tax credits or a streaming levy – both recommended by the recent Culture Committee inquiry into high-end TV and film.
Numerous industry figures have questioned whether the broadcasters could have afforded a show like Adolescence and some have queried whether producers should be pitching local British stories to the American streamers, but Pope rejected this notion and said Suspect was “only ever developed and created for Disney.”
“I think it’s really encouraging that Disney want to add this to their repertoire,” he added. “I’ve worked for many years in this part of the television landscape and it’s great that someone like Disney would want to take a story like this on and challenge their viewers, allowing their viewers to get angry.”
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