What to watch
The Riots 2011: One Week in August
BBC TWO, 9PM
A decade on, the summer riots of August 2011 look no less shocking now than they did back then. The largest wave of social disorder in Britain since the 1980s, they were triggered when the Metropolitan Police shot dead Tottenham local Mark Duggan. But within hours the disturbances spread to other boroughs in the capital, eventually sparking a chain reaction of rioting, looting and widespread arson in other UK cities, and the deaths of three men trying to defend businesses from mobs in Birmingham.
Packed with atmospheric archive footage, this film tells the story from all sides. Convicted rioters, policemen (including the then acting Met Police commissioner), activists and Craig Oliver, Number 10’s spokesman who found himself alone at the wheel while Prime Minister David Cameron was off on holiday in Tuscany, all look back from widely differing viewpoints at the events of a horrible, shameful week. By far the most memorable voice – as it was so decisively at the time – is that of Tariq Jahan, who heartbreakingly recounts the events that led to his son Haroon’s death in Birmingham, and how his quest for justice continues to this day. Gerard O’donovan