Jeff Pope’s new drama, Little Boy Blue, will be filming at Everton’s Goodison Park ground this weekend.
Made for ITV, it tells the tragic story of Rhys Jones, an 11-year-old boy, who was murdered in 2007.
He was shot outside the Fir Tree pub in Liverpool as he walked home from football practice in his Everton kit. He was caught in the cross-fire between rival gangs.
Rhys died in his mother’s arms.
Little Boy Blue has been filming across the North West and this weekend, will be an emotional trip to Goodison Park, with the crowd being asked to take part in a minute’s applause at half time.
Rhys’ father, Steve has spoken in a video about what they would like supporters to do.
Following Rhys’ death, his family were provided with support by the club he loved – and wanted to play for.
The drama has been written by Jeff Pope is produced by Kwadjo Dajan and directed by Paul Whittington (Cilla, The Widower, Mrs Biggs). Sinead Keenan and Bryan F. O’Byrne are cast as Rhys’ parents.
“We wanted to get involved in this drama because we thought it was important for people to understand what really happened – how close Rhys’s murderer came to escaping justice, and how in the end the simple courage shown by some of those involved in these events, and their refusal to be intimidated, led to the conviction of Sean Mercer and others involved in Rhys’s murder,” said the Jones’.
“The part Merseyside Police and especially Detective Superintendent Dave Kelly played in this cannot be over-estimated. But beyond this we wanted to show the devastating effect the loss of our beloved son Rhys had on our family, and how the grieving process affected us long beyond the ‘closure’ of a guilty verdict. Though some may find what happened to us shocking we think it is right to tell the whole story.”
