In 1965, the death penalty for murder in Britain was suspended for five years and in 1969 this was made permanent. On 29 July 1993, Bentley was granted a royal pardon in respect of the sentence of death passed upon him and carried out. In 1998, the Court of Appeal repealed the conviction of Derek Bentley.

The judge is Michael Gough, the original Celestial Toymaker.

The Judge - Michael Gough aka The Celestial Toymaker (and Hedin in Davison story Arc of Infinity). He was married to Anneke Wills in the 60s.

Long time viewer, first time commenting, on 30 July 1998, the Court of Appeal quashed Bentley's conviction for murder and his remains were able to be placed in consecrated ground on his gravestone it states "Here lies Derek William Bentley A Victim Of British Justice" the film is best on the police version of the events which has now been show to be unreliable. As well as Derek Bently we should remember Police Constable Sidney Miles who was murdered all be it not by Bentley. Sidney Miles's wife did not support the hanging of Bentley.

The cast list is amazing. I'll try and cover a few. Tom Courtenay and Eileen Atkins (Derek's parents) are both phenomenal actors (and still around). Tom made his name with "Billy Liar' and other 60s classics, Eileen you may know from more recent films like Gosford Park. Iris and Derek as kids were played by Ecclestone's neice and nephew! Edward Hardwicke (the school principal) is best knwon as Dr Watson to Jeremy Brett's Sherlock Holmes in the 80s & 90s Clare Holman (Iris) you spotted from 'Lewis' Paul Reynolds (Craig) has had a solid if not stella career, but you might be interested he turned up in a Big Finish with Ecclestone this year! Serena Scott-Thomas (Stella) is sister to the more famous Kirsten, and after this stared in a truly awful TV movie about Princess Diana before becoming a Bond girl amongst others Mark McGann (Niven Craig), yes Craig's brother was played by Paul McGann's brother! Murray Melvin (School Teacher) finished a long and illustrious career by playing Bilis Manger in 'Torchwood' Colin McCormack (Army Doctor) is our first Doctor Who alumnus, playing the Commander in 'The Sun Makers' Rudolph Walker (Driver) is, of course, Patrick in Eastenders for the last 24 years, amongst a very illustrious career that included playing Harper in 'The War Games' Ronald Fraser (Niven's Judge) was Joseph C in 'The Happiness Patrol' Linda Bassett (Mrs Miles) has been a regular in 'Call the Midwife' since 2015 Iain Cuthbertson (Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe) you may remember as Garron in 'The Ribos Operation' Michael Gough (Lord Goddard, the judge) surely needs no introduction. Lets just say 'The Celestial Toymaker' and move on. Karl Johnson (Parris) ws the unintelligable PC Bob Walker in 'Hot Fuzz' Vernon Dobtcheff (Clerk of Court) was the alien scientist in 'The War Games' (some actors like him I'm embarrased to mention just their DW credit as they have done so much!) Bill Dean (Jury Foreman) was very well known in the 80s as Harold in 'Brookside' Clive Revill (Prison Chaplin) is best known for something you probably can't see any more. He was the original voice of the Emperor in 'The Empire Strikes Back' which I think Lucas has replaced with Ian McDiarmid in all recent releases. And I haven't even touched on Tom Bell, James Villiers, Norman Rossington, Michael Elphick, Jeremy Sinden and a host of other great charater actors. Well, that took a while, so I've probably been ninja'd on a few. As you can tell, i kinds enjoy doing this sort of thing. I probably need a hobby....

The Bentley case is somewhat forgotten now, but was notorious in its time and when this film came out it was put back in the public spotlight. It was one of several controversial hangings in the 50s that contributed to the ultimately successful campaign to abolish the death penalty.

The teacher you were sure you recognised played Bilis Manger in the finale of Torchwood series 1.

❤❤❤❤ great video hope you are well ❤❤❤❤

Watched this for the first time a couple of weeks ago,good movie, love a movie that makes you take a step back and challenges you,sad ending

Paul Reynolds played a few little creeps (including play John Simm's scary imaginary friend in a TV drama) but he has a real talent for comedy. For a lot of people he's still most famous for playing Colin in Steven Moffatt's 1980s children's drama 'Press Gang' - which, if you can ever find a way to react to, would be really worth the time...

Your point about the 'grit' of British drama (TV and Film) in this era is well made. There's practically a subgenre of true story movies from this time that address miscarriages of justice - another famous one being 'Dance WIth a Stranger', which is about the tragic true story of Ruth Ellis, famously the last woman to be hanged in the UK. That's not necessarily a recommendation, btw - there's only so many stories like this that one can watch. Buuuut... just occurred to me... if you want to see an amazing 1990s drama series with an amazing cast, Alan Bleasdale's 'GBH' would be a great choice. It's more like a series of seven TV movies, and its positively epic with superb lead performances by Michael Palin, Robert Lindsay and Lindsay Duncan. It's also produced by Verity Lambert, and one episode is partly set in a hotel where there's a Doctor Who convention taking place. If you've ever wanted to see a Dalek racing around after a young woman shouting "Fornicate!", this is the show to watch...

Utterly heartbreaking story of a vulnerable kid from a good family exploited by a feral scumbag and condemned by a corrupt police force who knew Craig wouldn’t hang so they fitted Bentley up by fabricated evidence Also - when the two defence solicitors met before the trial one turned to the other and said - “I think both little bastards ought to swing !!”

Some parts of this film remind me a bit of '10 Rillington Place', which might be worth reacting to, if you haven't already seen it. Like this, it's also based on a true story. If you're after another good Christopher Eccleston film to react to, I'd recommend 'Shallow Grave'.

The drink they gave Derek was common practice,supposedly to calm nerves on walk to gallows🎩

Though last hangings were 60 years ago next month...a few crimes-including Treason-still,in theory,carried death sentence until 1998 and single set of gallows were kept in working order until as kate as 1994🎩

Christopher Craig was still alive as recently as 2006 at least🎩

You should check out the Second Coming if you haven't already.

They targeted Derek because his low IQ made him easily led and susceptible to fall in with the wrong crowd.A sad,true story much a part of the abolition of Capital Punishment...knowing you didn't know the story,what you were going to see😢🎩