Murdered for Being Different

A young couple: Rob and Sophie, is buying alcohol at a convenience store late at night. They are indeed friendly to people, even though they dress exaggeratedly in gothic style. Sophie wears black and red dreadlocks, earrings, nose rings, and lip rings; her boyfriend, Rob, is similar with dark curly hair, thick eyeliner, lip rings, heavy chains, and big skull rings on his hands. Their dress attracts the attention of two teenagers. One teenager, Michael asks Sophie if he can touch her hair and she agrees joyfully, joking that she will have to charge him next time. Interested in Rob and Sophie, he invites them to the park. In the park, there is a crowd of young people. Most of them, especially the girls, find their dress interesting and one girl even asks to have a picture with them. Right here and now, the gothic couple and the street teenagers get along well with each other. However, less than half an hour later, Rob and Sophie have been beaten with blood all over, and Sophie does not even breathe.

Officer Farley is in charge of the investigation. She comes to visit Michael, who called an ambulance on the scene, but he tells Farley that there was no one else and he was passing by when he happened to see the injured Rob and Sophie. Worse still, she is informed that the CCTV cameras in the neighbourhood were out of service and captured nothing that night by colleagues. Without any witness or evidence, the case appears to have reached a dead end. During the investigation, those teenagers lied about the incident easily, but Michael expresses his sympathy, regret, and self-reflection for what has happened to Sophie and Rob. He witnesses the whole incident, and although he does not dare to come forward to stop beating, he calls for an ambulance. Later, when he meets with a partner and the partner called Rob and Sophie moshies, he responds immediately and sensitively to stop him calling that way.

A few days later, comatose Sophie does not wake up. Rob wakes up, but he has no recollection of what has happened that day, let alone the perpetrators who have beaten him and Sophie because he is seriously injured. However, fortunately, when Michael finally learns of Sophie's death, he decides to provide the police with the testimony of that night ignoring the threats from the gang leader, even though he is still afraid.

The film also tells about the memories of Rob and Sophie's love intertwined with the case. Their love is the same as most couples. Rob falls in love with Sophie at first sight at the pub and takes her to his secret base. As an art student, he paints wings on Sophie's back because he thinks she is an angel, so she needs wings and regards her the Mona Lisa to him. Sophie likes Harry Potter, so Rob reads with her, enjoying their romance in the freezing rooftop. To buy Sophie the Harry Potter, Rob waits until midnight for a discount. He even paid all money then he has to walk several miles in the rain to go back to their home. Their love is too beautiful to contrast with the inhuman and brutal violence that night.

Before this case, they have already been threatened once just because of their appearance, and Rob is even too afraid to go out though he thinks they do nothing wrong. However, at the end of the film, Rob decides to dress up and do the make-up again, as the same way before, not only in memory of Sophie but also being brave this time to stand out for what they believe.

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On Sunday 18 June 2017, Murdered for Being Different was first released on BBC3.[4]

On Thursday 13 July 2017 at 22:45, it was broadcast on BBC1, except for Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland HD.[11]

On Thursday 13 July 2017 at 23:10, it was broadcast on BBC1, Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland HD only.[11]

When Murdered for Being Different was released, the vast majority of it's audience gave it positive affirmations and rave reviews. Julia Raeside from The Guardian praised the film editing and the shots created by director Paul Andrew Williams. She wrote that it is incredibly smart of the director to make comparisons with the flashbacks of Sophie and Rob's first meeting and how they are beaten up, which is simple but was enough to make her sad. She also pointed out that every scene of this film is exquisite and is very shocking to use a beautiful love story to contrast with the tragedy.[12]

Jasper Rees from Theartsdesk wrote that it is a fair point to continue to pluck up the courage to be different in the end by dressing up in gothic, even though his girlfriend was brutally murdered.[13]

However, some in the media gave the film a more critical reception. Gerard O'Donovan from The Daily Telegraph has some thoughts on whether there should be those cruel images of violence in the film. He thinks that people should "see the full horror of such mindless cruelty and naked hatred should be shown precisely for what it is", but he feels that it is also understandable to omit of these shots.[14]

Murdered for Being Different has won the British Academy Television Award for Best Single Drama in 2008.[5]

BBC Three - Murdered for Being Different

• Murdered for Being Different