In Denial of Murder
2004Dramatisation of the Stephen Downing case which involved the conviction and imprisonment in 1974 of a 17-year-old council worker, Stephen Downing, for the murder of a 32 year old legal secretary, Wendy Sewell, in the town of Bakewell in the Peak District in central England. Following a campaign by a local newspaper, his conviction was overturned in 2002, after Downing had served 27 years in prison. The case is thought to be the longest miscarriage of justice in British legal history, and attracted worldwide media attention.
Acted in
Stephen Tompkinson
as Don Hale
Jason Watkins
as Stephen Downing
Caroline Catz
as Wendy Sewell
David Troughton
as Ray Downing
June Watson
as Nita Downing
Lisa Millett
as Christine Downing
Judy Flynn
as Kath Hale
Wayne Foskett
as David Sewell
Jennifer Hennessy
as Jackie Dunn
Neil Boorman
as Ron Duggins
Malcolm Raeburn
as Adrian Duggins
Andrea Mason
as Lesley Shooter
Ewan Hooper
as Charles Hale
Jeanne Hepple
as Doreen Hale
Bill Rodgers
as Reg Ollerenshaw
Richard Standing
as Roy Eyre
Ruth Mitchell
as Christine Smith
Bobby Knutt
as Ernie Charlesworth
Brian Southwood
as Eric Clough
Ryan Sampson
as Marcus Edwards
Luke Gell
as Stephen Downing, aged 17
Helen Atkins
as Amanda Hatfield
Chris Brailsford
as Chief Constable Wood
Roger Brierley
as Lord Pill
Tom Chadbon
as Ed Fitzgerald QC
Brendan Charleson
as Prison Officer
Deirdre Doone
as Mrs Justice Hallett
Hazel Douglas
as Mrs Hallam
Stephanie Fend
as Heidi Warrington
Dave Hill
as Norman Taylor
Simon Molloy
as Julian Bevan
Paul Opacic
as Detective
Andrew Readman
as Det Supt Stokes
Irene Skillington
as Madge Crawshaw
Robert Stone
as Minder
Kate Wood
as Social Worker