Angry, frustrated Grenfell survivors hope for Mr Bates effect following debut of Netflix blaze doc

The Grenfell fire claimed 72 lives in 2017

DOC/FEST: Survivors of the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, which claimed 72 lives, took to the stage at the premiere of a Netflix documentary they hope will move the political needle in the same way as ITV’s Mr Bates vs The Post Office drama.

Director Olaide Sadiq’s feature-length documentary Grenfell: Uncovered was given a world premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest on Thursday ahead of its launch on Netflix today.

Grenfell Tower was a 24-storey residential block in West London which turned into a deadly inferno on the night of June 14, 2017 when a fire in a fourth-floor kitchen ignited the building’s exterior.

Insulating cladding had been applied during a recent refurbishment despite manufacturers Arconic, Kingspan and Celotex knowing it was unsafe for use in that form. The local council, The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, had ditched plans for a safer zinc cladding system in search of a cheaper alternative.

Despite a public inquiry, not a single criminal charge has ever been brought as the eighth anniversary passes.

Afterwards, survivors of the blaze who appeared in the film were joined on stage by Sadiq and said they hoped the documentary, and Netflix’s backing of the project, would finally lead to justice for the dead and those who lived to tell their tale.

Blaze survivor Edward Daffarn told Doc/Fest delegates: “For me, I think about the Post Office drama, I wonder if this Netflix documentary can make a difference”. He added: “The only way we can hurt these people is the only way they understand, and that’s through their profits.”

Members of the audience at the Crucible Theatre were left in tears during the screening and shouts of “shame” were heard as testimony from the politician responsible for building control and fire safety at the time were shown on screen.

ITV’s fact-based drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office belatedly spurred government action when it aired last year, even though the scandal of subpostmasters being prosecuted and jailed for errors in an IT system that was known to be faulty had been on the political radar for years.

Daffarn had run a blog for concerned residents which predicted a catastrophic event at the tower block six months before the fire and survived only because a neighbour was able to wake him as the fire took hold around 1am and urged him to get out of the building – a moment he relives in harrowing scenes on screen.

The “stay put” policy in the event of fires – which still applies to the majority of tower blocks in the UK – condemned dozens of others to death as flames swept across the outside of the building.

Here in Sheffield on Thursday, Daffarn said: “The one thing that came out of the documentary and the phase two public inquiry report was how very simply profit was put before people’s lives. Arconic made £5.5bn [US$7.4bn] profit last year, Kingspan made £900m profit last year. There hasn’t been a single arrest. All these companies are still out there selling their products.

“For me, I think about the Post Office drama, I wonder if this Netflix documentary can make a difference. It’s difficult because the Post Office scandal was a single issue whereas Grenfell is so complicated, but the fact there have been no consequences, the fact these companies are out there making so much money… The inquiry report and this documentary need to be a touchstone where anyone involved in procurement or local government must always use Grenfell as the thing that makes them put people before profit.

“If this documentary can do that, if we as a nation can galvanise around this documentary and work with politicians and our local authorities, encourage them not to use products from Arconic, Kingspan, Celotex and Rydon, the building contractor. Talk to your friends, tell them about these companies. If you’re insulating your loft don’t use these products. The only way we can hurt these people is the only way they understand, and that’s through their profits.”

Márcio Gomes, who was one of the last to escape the tower with his two young daughters and pregnant wife, who subsequently lost their unborn child, added: “It’s important to understand that eight years on these companies are still getting away with sending these products out, making their millions. The only way we can hurt them is by hurting their profits, it’s the only thing they listen to.

“Grenfell needs to be a catalyst of change. We can only do that if we unite together, share the documentary and everything else that goes with it, and hurt them. There’s been hardly any change, when Grenfell should be a beacon and a catalyst of change. Companies must be held accountable and not putting profit ahead of people’s safety. We’ve lost our loved ones. We can’t change that, but we can change what happens moving forwards.”