Cyril Offence

I was working on a fictional script that followed a similar narrative structure when I began researching into real-life men who had committed these atrocities. It was during this time that I came across this story about Cyril Smith. I was amazed by how no one under the age of 40 knows who he is considering the horror of his crimes, but also how deeply it runs in the British political and social history: Maggie Thatcher knew about his behaviour when he was knighted and MI5 have been accused of cover-ups. As soon as I found this story, I knew I had to tell it on a screen in whatever capacity I could, even if it meant filming in my garden shed. It’s wrong that men like Jimmy Savile, Rolf Harris, and Bill Cosby are renowned for their crimes whilst Cyril Smith is unknown to a lot of the public. The film is as much about shedding light on his crimes as it is about the complex effects of abuse on the victims and their struggle to come out about it, especially for Eddie as a gay man living in 1969 - just two years after homosexuality had been legalised.