The BBC has announced plans for a new drama entitled ‘The Barking Murders’, based on the aftermath of four murders carried out by Stephen Port.
Port date-raped and killed four men between 2014 and 2015, but it wasn’t until weeks after the final murder took place that police linked the crimes together.
The events that took place are now set to become the subject of a “factual drama”, created by Jeff Pope, who previously masterminded ‘The Moorside’ and ‘Little Boy Blue’.
The plans for the three-part series were revealed at the Edinburgh TV Festival, and Deadline reports that the drama will “shed new light on the families of the victims of convicted serial rapist and killer Stephen Port who is serving a life sentence after murdering at least four men”.
“Four young men with their entire future ahead of them lost their lives in a brutal and tragic way”. writer and executive producer Neil McKay said (via TV Wise). “This is a story not only of the consequences of that loss but also of the extraordinary courage and resilience shown by those who loved them as they sought truth and justice.
“It is a privilege to be able to tell it.”
This is the second time the BBC has visited this case, and the drama follows their BBC Three documentary, ‘How Police Missed The Grindr Killer’, which was released earlier this year.
Stephen was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty on four counts of murder in November 2016.
An inquest into why the police initially failed to link the crimes was subsequently opened, and in May it was reported that over 7,000 pages of evidence have been gathered by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC).