‘Three girls’: the horrifying true story on BBC1, the brave girls and what it means to the playing actors: Learn all that here!
BBC’s new mini-series bares the truth
BBC1 has aired the three-part miniseries ‘Three girls’ from 16-18th May 2017 at 9 pm. Maxine Peake played the role of the lady who helped bust the racket. This drama narrates the true stories of the victims of the Rochdale child sex abuse ring which was busted in 2012.
These sex-grooming gangs traumatized and abused 50 minor girls between 2008 and 2012. The incident took place in and around Rochdale, Greater Manchester.
The authorities failed to protect the victims, making matters worse by ignoring them.
The story revolves around the lives of three girls, Holly, Amber, and Ruby (names changed) who hang out with much older Asian men at a local kebab restaurant. The ring leader was Shabir Ahmed.
The men offered hard drinks and fast food to the young girls, promising them for free, but demanded sex in return. The girls got pregnant when they were just 13-15 years old.
The police drove away a girl who approached them for help, despite her being a victim. The reasons cited later on during the trial for this pathetic behavior were fear of inciting racial tension and excess of other ‘more demanding’ crimes such as burglary.
The real reason was that they lacked respect for the poor and young victims, which was discovered to be an untrue explanation.
Meeting the real-life victims
Before and during the shooting which was spread over 3-4 months, the actors who played the various roles got a chance to meet the victims of the case and also those who were involved in supporting these young girls during and after the trial.
The parents of the victims met the actors who played them, and they were extremely touched by learning how the harrowing events unfolded.
Eight Pakistani men and one Afghan national, all in the age group of 24-59 years, were put behind bars for their involvement in this racket.
Lisa Riley who plays Lorna Bowen, the mother of two of the victims says:
“We had three and a half months filming it last August and it cocooned my life. I got angry and more angry.”
She further added:
“I’m so honored to have played the part of Lorna and give these girls a voice because they were ignored over and over again. I just want the girls to stay safe. They’ve seen it, they’re over the moon with how its been portrayed. It’s their story and they feel that justice has been done.”
Lisa Riley says that it was very hard for her to enact the role. She says:
“The hardest I’ve felt as an actress was when my youngest [on-screen] daughter had to go and have an abortion. The real life me was behind the monitor.”
Molly Windsor plays Holly in the drama, while Liv Hill plays abuse victim Ruby and Ria Zmitrowicz plays the role of Amber. The three actresses have said that the real-life victims are very strong and are trying to put their past behind them and move on in their lives.
Maxine Peake as Sara Rowbotham
Sara Rowbotham was the sexual health support worker who was the whistleblower of this scandal and who had tirelessly worked to obtain justice for the victims. She had notified the concerned authorities about the grooming sex gang but it fell on deaf ears.
The authorities had missed several chances to rescue the victims. If the authorities and police were vigilant and responsive enough, they could have easily stopped the abuse by pedophiles.
Sara Rowbotham had relentlessly pursued the matter with the concerned authorities to get justice for the victims. She was at first ignored by the authorities but she continued with her efforts.
She was the one to realize that something large and wrong was going on in Rochdale. Sara Rowbotham made more than 100 referrals to the police and social services between 2005 and 2011, but none were acted upon.
The victims had gone into silence mode after facing the apathy of the police department and higher authorities. Sara Rowbotham took them to her refuge center and managed to gain their confidence and make them speak. It was Sara Rowbotham who brought to light the magnitude of the problem in that area.
Sara Rowbotham said:
“My calls to police were ignored and social workers told me the girls were making lifestyle choices. At the time I thought I was going mad. How could no one see we were in the midst of a major crisis where girls were being raped on an industrial scale?”
A new police officer, Maggie Oliver, finally prompted action on the warnings she had given.
Similarly, Sara is now a Labor Councillor for North Middleton in Rochdale. 120000 people have signed a petition demanding recognition of Sara Rowbotham for her great and valuable work.
English actress Maxine Peake has portrayed the role of Sara Rowbotham in ‘Three Girls’. She said:
“I am dismayed at the “mind-blowing” lack of care shown to the vulnerable girls who were victims in the Rochdale sex grooming scandal.”
What does Maxine Peake say about her character?
The 42-year-old actress Maxine Peake is happy and proud to bring the real-life stories of these girls into the drawing rooms of people’s homes. She says:
“Doing stories like this in a dramatised form engages a bigger audience,”
She added:
“I thought it was a story that needed to be told. This is a story about a swathe of society that have constantly been ignored, and bullied. They’ve slipped off the scale and we’ve forgot about them and that really spoke to me.”
Incidentally, only 2 of the 9 convicts are in jail, 4 are fighting for their stay in the UK, while 3 have completed their sentences.
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