Channel 5 chief content officer Ben Frow said he would not have commissioned a drama about the 2021 murder of Sarah Everard, despite describing the BBC project as an important story and expressing confidence in writer Jeff Pope. His comments underline the ethical and editorial difficulties broadcasters face when dramatising recent real-life tragedies, particularly those involving victims’ families and wider public trauma.

The BBC drama will focus on the police investigation rather than Everard’s abduction and murder by an off-duty police officer during Covid lockdowns; it has also drawn criticism over its choice of a male writer. Frow said Channel 5 considers whether a programme is worth the potential harm or controversy, while stressing contributor welfare and privacy; he noted that the channel has abandoned projects where those affected objected or where the production had been handled poorly, despite commissioning dramas on Huw Edwards and Madeleine McCann.