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The Interrogation of Tony Martin centres around the farmer who shot burglar Fred Barras in the back as he ran away from the scene. To this day, Mr Martin has been unrepentant, and insists he would do it again if required.
And he is 100% correct. If someone breaks into your property, anything you do should be nice and legal. However, even though the law is rarely on your side in these circumstances, the court of public opinion IS, and it was thanks to a public petition that he was released.
This recreated drama takes in every word spoken from the police interviews, precisely what was said, and when I first heard about this, I saw the two policemen interviewing him were played by Daniel Mays (Mother’s Day) and Stuart Graham (Bad Day For The Cut, The Cured), the latter of whom is one of those people you’ve seen in a zillion things but never know their name.
At that point, I didn’t know who was playing Tony Martin, himself, but then I saw Steve Pemberton (Inside No.9, top pic), and while he doesn’t look massively like Martin, he rarely disappoints, so is certainly a good choice.
At first, the police don’t know there’s more than just one burglar, Brendan Fearon, but before long, Martin tells them what he knows. I won’t go into any more detail about the content, but while it’s reasonably engaging, it rarely felt like an interrogation, and more like just a chat.
There’s occasional mumbling, and I’m not quite sure why we’re getting this drama now, but it’s always been a fascinating case.
Finally, there’s also an epilogue from Tony Martin, himself. More of his story, direct, certainly would’ve added to this.
The Interrogation of Tony Martin is on tonight at 9pm on Channel 4. Once broadcast, it will be on All4, but it’s not yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD.
Score: 6/10
Director: David Nath
Producer: Kate Cook
Writer: David Nath
Music: Samuel Sim
Cast:
Tony Martin: Steve Pemberton
DC Peters: Daniel Mays
DS Newton: Stuart Graham
Solicitor: Tristan Sturrock
Desk Sergeant: Jordan Whyte
Police Officer: Chris Wilson
Himself: Tony Martin
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.