Jo Cox: Death of an MP
BBC TWO, 9.00PM
This affecting, forensically detailed account of the horrific murder of Jo Cox MP in the run up to last June’s EU referendum makes its biggest impact by bringing out the utter senselessness of it.
On the one hand, we’re presented with a clear portrait of a bright young parliamentarian and mother whose life was full of energy, optimism and dedication to others, and whose killing deprived our democracy of a rising star; someone of real promise, who every day made a difference. On the other hand, there’s a fuzzy depiction of 53-year-old terrorist Thomas Mair – despite testimony from some of the few who knew him. He is presented as a friendless, solitary and unproductive loner who spent his life absorbing white-supremacist propaganda, Nazi literature and hatred. To date, he has offered no explanation, other than empty political slogans, as to why he killed Cox. Among those contributing are Cox’s husband and the two colleagues who were with her outside Birstall library at the time of the attack. They recall her murder in distressing detail, as does Bernard Kenny, the 77-year-old also stabbed while trying to intervene. A disturbing film about a truly tragic loss. Gerard O’donovan