A quest for justice in the wake of tragedy
REG BBC One, Monday, 9pm
THIS one-off new drama by Jimmy McGovern (Banished, Common, The Accused) is the story of one man who takes on the British Prime Minister over Britain’s participation in the Iraq War.
Reg follows the true story of Reg Keys on a journey of grief and defiance after his son Tom is one of six RMPs murdered in Al Majar, Iraq.
As Reg and his wife Sally have their lives torn apart, questions begin to arise not only about the events that led to their son’s death but also the legitimacy of the war as a whole.
Left with questions that the New Labour government and Prime Minister Tony Blair refuse to answer, Reg decides to stand as an independent candidate in Blair’s own constituency of Sedgefield.
The story opens in June 2003, as Reg and Sally return to their home in the Welsh countryside. As they switch on the TV to hear six military policemen have been murdered in Iraq, two men arrive bearing the terrible news that their son Tom was among them.
Plunged into grief and despair, Sally struggles with the day-to-day real- ity of having lost her son, while Reg desperately tries to make sense of what has happened.
Reg discovers that three weeks prior to his son’s death the Army had ordered a scale-down in weapons and communications, leaving the six men with limited resources to defend themselves.
Angered by his belief that it was An army blunder, Reg makes a radical decision – to stand against Tony Blair in his home constituency of Sedgefield in the next General Election, as an independent candidate in opposition to the Iraq war.
Reg begins an intense on-the-ground daily routine of campaigning. Faced by an electorate in a safe Labour seat, the process is exhausting and takes Reg away from Sally, who continues to struggle with her grief.
As election night draws in, and the world’s press gathers in Sedgefield, tensions run high as the final count begins to emerge.
Reg Keys is played by Tim Roth, Sally Keys by Anna Maxwell Martin, Richard Keys by Elliott Tittensor and Bob Clay by Ralph Brown.
Jimmy McGovern says: “It was an honour to meet Reg Keys, a truly remarkable man, and it has been a privilege to tell this part of his story.
“When Bob Pugh and I finished the script, they asked me who, in an ideal world, would play the parts of Reg and Sally. ‘Tim Roth and Anna Maxwell Martin’, I replied, never dreaming we’d get either. We got both and I am absolutely over the moon.”