Our Girls: The Southport Families (BBC1)
Alice, Elsie and Bebe… how horrible that everybody knows their names because of the actions of an evil human being.
Bebe King’s father, Ben, said at the beginning of Our Girls: The Southport Families, ‘We want her to be remembered for the child she was and not what happened to her.’
Jenni Stancombe echoed his feelings: ‘Elsie will not be defined by what happened that day.’ Alice’s mother, Alexandra Aguiar, added, ‘We’ve got to keep her light on.’
This hour-long tribute did a fine job of honouring these parents’ wishes. It made no mention of the killer’s existence and barely touched on the horrific events of July 29 last year, when the children were stabbed to death at a dance-and-crafting class.
Instead, snatches of home video and interviews with the girls’ teachers helped to convey a sense of their personalities — lively, confident, outgoing, all three secure in the love of their happy homes.
At the same time, the documentary respected their families’ privacy. Grandparents and siblings did not feature, and the cameras were careful not to intrude too deeply upon grief. All the parents were emotional when they talked, of course, but there were no exploitative, tearful shots. These are still ordinary people, not celebrities.
Nine more children and two adults were wounded in the attack. Several of them suffered life-changing injuries.
The documentary did not touch on this, and perhaps an acknowledgement should have been made that for other families involved, the trauma and the consequences could also last a lifetime.
‘This hour-long tribute did a fine job of honouring these parents’ wishes’, writes Christopher Stevens
Most of the hour focused on finding some sort of positive meaning in the girls’ deaths
Bebe King, six, (left) Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, (centre) and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, (right) were killed in the tragic attacks
The programme also avoided any mention of the political aftershocks. This was a wise decision. A public inquiry into the murders was held earlier this year and its findings are expected in early 2026. That will be the time for analysis and recriminations.
Most of the hour focused on finding some sort of positive meaning in the girls’ deaths. All three are remembered through initiatives started by their parents: Alice’s WonderDance, Bebe’s Hive and Elsie’s Story.
These foundations and charities were set up to provide safe play and activity areas for children, encouraging dance and crafting — just the sort of thing the girls would have loved.
We also followed David Stancombe and Sergio Aguiar as they ran the London marathon, with Elsie’s head teacher, Jinnie Payne. Here, the emphasis was more on the sheer agony, physical and emotional, of the day.
Both men somehow found the willpower to finish — determined to give testament to their love for their daughters.
‘Nobody talks about grief, especially with children,’ said Bebe’s mum, Lauren. In part that’s because the mere thought of it is so appalling for parents who — thankfully — have not suffered such an atrocious bereavement.
It’s wrong to ignore a tragedy by hiding behind our fear of it. With sensitivity and respectful patience, Our Girls helped us to explore the lingering grief after Southport.