Sky Documentaries has commissioned All3Media’s RAW to produce a feature special about the bomb attack on the Manchester Arena in May 2017.
A suicide bomber killed 22 people at the Ariana Grande concert on May 22, 2017, making it the deadliest terror attack in the U.K. since the 7/7 bombings. Sophie Oliver will direct the feature-length special, which will include first-person testimony from those there that night. It is set to air on Sky Documentaries and NOW in 2027.
Tom Sheahan and Liesel Evans, EPs at RAW, commented, “This is a film that gives space to the voices of those who were there—what they lived through, how they helped, and how they continue to carry it with them today, nearly 10 years on. The film will follow a chronological arc—beginning with the anticipation, excitement, and euphoria of the concert itself, through the final songs, the explosion, the hysteria, the escape, and the rescue, to the days, weeks, months, and years that followed, and the extraordinary public response that unified not just Manchester, but the nation as a whole.”
Hayley Reynolds, head of documentary commissioning at Sky, added, “[RAW’s] track record for compelling, thoughtful and sensitive storytelling makes them uniquely placed to take on such an important subject. The Manchester Arena bombing was a defining moment in recent British history and, for a generation too young to remember 7/7, their first experience of such a brutal act of domestic terrorism. Ten years on, it remains vital to remember what happened and reflect on its lasting impact.”
