As the first episode of Anne begins, we see men drawing numbers from a bag. The end result is a game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest during the FA Cup semi-final. Then, we jump over to Formby, Merseyside on April 14, 1989. Anne (Maxine Peake) and Steve (Stephen Walters) listen to music inside. Outside, Kevin (Campbell Wallace) and Sara (Ellie May Davies) kick the ball around and talk about football players. We see archival footage saying South Yorkshire Police were so pleased with the arrangements for last year’s semi-final game between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest that they plan to stage a carbon-copy. It will be a ticket-only game with all 54,000 being gone. Kevin shows his sister that he managed to get a ticket although he isn’t sure his parents will let him go. Archival footage shows analysts hyping the game.

Kevin draws in the kitchen while his mother says he’ll have to turn it in at some point. Kevin and his sister try to butter up their mother so she’ll let him go to the football game. When Steve enters, Kevin’s parents tell him he is too young to go to the away games. Kevin complains that he’ll stay home and listen to it on the radio while everyone he knows goes to the game before slamming the door on his way out. In the morning, Anne wakes her son and surprises him by saying she is going to let him go to the game after all. Anne invites him and Andy Duncan (Matthew Roberts) down to the store before they go. The boys stop by Britannia Stores where Anne tells them to fill their boots. He says it is only down the road so they’ll likely be home around nine. Before they leave, Anne tucks in her son’s necklace, kisses him, and tells him to be good. We see a portion of the game before jumping ahead to 3:05 PM. Sara walks into the house as Steve turns up the radio.

The announcer says they have problems because the police have been guiding spectators out of the end. Steve hopes they’re not doing this again. They turn on the television and learn that something bad is happening while the announcer says the gate leading into that terrace was broken. People without tickets got in and ended up overcrowding the people with tickets. Steve asks Anne to go to the Legion to get some cigs since Michael Williams (Bobby Schofield) will be there. Sara questions whether Kevin is okay. Anne says yes several times although she really doesn’t know. Once she arrives, Michael says it is terrible and reveals they’re claiming people might be dead. He believes Kev will be okay because he is a good lad. Later that night, Andy’s father calls the Williams house to see if they’ve heard anything. He tells Steve that Andy is back, but they don’t know about Kev because he wasn’t with Andy.

Anne freaks out while screaming for Steve to phone the emergency line again. Steve says he is Kevin’s stepdad before telling them more about Kevin and his attire. The person on the line recommends getting in touch with Hallamshire Hospital. Once the call ends, Steve says there is an information center now, but they need to get to Sheffield. On April 16 around 5:30 AM, Steve and Anne make the drive. Along the way, Anne worries that she felt Kevin leaving her. When their vehicle runs out of gas, Steve convinces a farmer to give them some. When Steve returns with the farmer, he tells Anne he siphoned some from one of his vehicles. Anne is surprised. Steve says people are good at least most of them. The farmer wishes them good luck before they continue. Around 7:30 AM, they reach Sheffield. They stop and talk to a police officer who tells them to go to the Boy’s Club.

At 8:40 AM or so, the couple makes it to the Boy’s Club where they find couples crying inside. Then, they’re introduced to Paula (Adelle Leonce) who believes she heard someone named Kevin Williams. While they wait for her to check, Anne worries they’ve stirred up a fuss for nothing since Kev is going to be okay. A man stands up on a chair and screams asking if they have a Christopher Barry Devonside. Paula returns and says the Kevin Williams they have is 40 years old. She decides to take them down to the Medico-Legal Centre. Once they arrive, they’re harassed by members of the press. They’re asked to sit down while they see people crying nearby. PC Glave (Simon Wilson) approaches, introduces himself, and shows them some photographs.

They’re asked to look at the pictures to see if Kevin is among them. While Steve sees Kevin on the board, Anne doesn’t want to believe it. Steve says he is number 51. Once Anne realizes it is his, she says she wants to see him. PC Glave takes the picture down while Anne screams she wants to die in the hallway. Back at home, Michael listens to an officer say he is tired of hearing people ridicule them for their actions that day on television. Steve doesn’t like it when he claims the police would’ve been trampled by the mob too. He further blames the fans by saying they were drunk and didn’t want to obey their orders. Steve gets a call from the undertakers so he has to tell Annie who is still in bed. They go down there and see Kevin’s body. Anne says there is hardly a mark on him so he couldn’t have suffered. Steve reassured her by agreeing he didn’t suffer.

She combs Kevin’s hair while Steve says they want to do the funeral on Friday, but she says that is too early since she hasn’t said goodbye yet. A news report says the death toll at Hillsborough has risen to 95 after a 14-year-old boy died in Sheffield’s Northern General Hospital. 10 fans remain in intensive care. We also learn the police have admitted to opening the gate to let the fans into the crowd because there was a crush going on outside. They deny knowing about a connection between opening the gate and the surge on the terrace. Another report says police claim they were attacked by drunken Liverpool football fans as they tried to help victims. They claim they were punched, kicked, and urinated on. Annie’s family gets a visit from a journalist delivering more flowers. He tries to take Kevin’s picture and says he just wants to tell her story. They run him out of the house. Later, the family goes to the stadium to lay flowers in honor of Kevin.

Then, we jump forward to May 28. The family gets a visit from Bob Jones (Roger Morlidge) with Sefton Social Services. He learns it was Kevin’s birthday yesterday. Sara isn’t eager to talk to him. Steve and Anne admit they’re not getting much sleep. Bob sits down and explains he will be their point of contact all the way through Kevin’s inquest. He explains Lord Taylor is conducting a big public inquiry into it to find out what went wrong. The inquest relates to Kevin alone in hopes of finding out the when and where of death. Anne asks about the why and how although Bob says that won’t be answered at this stage. She wants to know why her son died at a game of football. Before long, Anne decides to leave her bedroom. She tracks down Andy and asks what happened to Kev. Andy admits he can’t stop thinking about him. He says it is a lie that the fans got there too late like the police said. If anything, they got there too early.

He says they moved from the pen they were in to the one next to them when it started getting bad. They were packed like he had never seen before. They started the match anyway. The pressure pushed them to the left and carried them to the right. Their feet weren’t even hitting the floor. Kevin tried to laugh it off although he knew it was too packed. Once Peter Beardsley hit the bar, there was a big surge like getting hit in the back by a train. At that point, everyone went down. When she asks if Kev was trampled in the trouble, Andy says no because there was no trouble or fighting. He was with Kev one minute and he was gone just like that. He couldn’t find him. On August 1st, 1989, we see a news report about Lord Justice Taylor delivering his interim report. His aim wasn’t to place blame but to find out why. The heaviest criticism was aimed at the police. The failure of police control is blamed for the main reason. Steve wakes up Anne was it says the people in the police control room should’ve acted.

Among those named is Chief Superintendent David Duckenfield since he was in charge of policing the match. He allegedly misjudged the build-up at the turnstiles and failed to alert the officers inside the ground. Furthermore, there were no steps taken to postpone the kick-off. It also says the majority of fans weren’t drunk. Anne asks what happens now. Steve says it is their turn. The day of the inquest into Kevin’s death takes place on May 2, 1990. Before long, Anne and Steve arrive at the Sheffield Medico-Legal Centre. Bob explains it is also the coroner’s court for cases like this. He apologizes but promises this is the last hurdle. Once they go inside, they’re introduced to Sergeant John Killoch (Ashley Emerson) from West Midlands Police. The Sergeant wants to go over a few things because the coroner wants to warn them about one or two things they might hear today.

They learn they’re going to hear from an off-duty officer who was there that day. They’re shown a picture of the off-duty officer giving mouth-to-mouth to Kevin. John explains the off-duty officer thinks he might’ve seen Kevin convulse when he was on the pitch since the victims were laid out there. Anne believes that means Kev was still alive and asks who else saw this. John mentions a volunteer bobby named Debra Martin. He doesn’t want to criticize Special WPC Martin since she was caught up in the crush and particularly upset by the events. She suggests she heard Kevin speak. Anne thinks he called for her so she wants to speak to Martin immediately. She gets upset that they led her to believe her son died in the pen for a year. Now, they’re saying he might’ve died on the pitch. Next, Dr. David Slater (Roger Ringrose) gives evidence to the coroner, Dr. Stefan Popper.

He suggests Kevin died due to asphyxia because of the blueness on his face and upper chest. He believes it was caused by compression of the chest and neck. The opinion was supported by the presence of three small scratches over the left side of his neck and front of the voice box. It also led to four fractures to the bones in the actual voice box. Dr. Slater believes unconsciousness would’ve occurred rapidly while death could occur within three to five minutes. One officer said she helped the lad into the gym from the pitch. She likely carried him when he stopped breathing. She gave him the kiss of life and tried some heart massage. He opened his eyes, said a word, and died. Slater says this was the most traumatic case of asphyxia he dealt with. Since the voice box fractures were so severe, he doesn’t think Kevin could’ve spoken. The evidence suggests there would’ve been extensive brain damage.

In all likelihood, that would prevent any form of communication. Once Anne storms out of the room, she complains she is being bounced from pillar and post while saying it was a fix. She thought it was supposed to be the last hurdle, but they’re back in the dark again. At home, the family gets a visit from Inspector Matthew Sawers (Mark Dexter) with the West Midlands Police Force. He says it is a courtesy visit and he wants to update them on things they might’ve heard yesterday. Anne asks about PC Bruder who said he saw Kevin convulsing. Sawers says he spoke to Bruder for several hours today to get clarification about what he said since it was in disagreement with other evidence. Now, he believes what he saw was just a twitch. They also talk about the ambulance that passed by while he was giving Kevin mouth-to-mouth.

The two ambulances allegedly entered the pitch at 3:15 and 3:17. Kevin wasn’t carried away from the pens until 3:32. The coroner believes Bruder was mistaken about what he saw. Anne asks about Debbie Martin since she heard Kevin speak. Although Anne believes Kevin called out for her, Sawers doesn’t think that was possible because of the medical evidence. Before Sawers leaves, he says there will be another hearing tomorrow to record the new evidence. Steve wonders why a senior officer would come all the way over here to tell them that. As for Anne, she refuses to believe it. Later, Sara tries to get her mother out of bed, but Anne doesn’t want to leave. She forces Anne to go to the school so she can see what they’ve done for Kevin.

She is shown the memorial and told one of the fathers is working on the cathedral’s memorial so that is a bona fide holy stone. She thanks everyone. We see archival footage about the crush incident. On March 28, 1991, the jury delivers its verdict in the main inquest. Steve and Anne watch and learn the jury returned with a verdict of accidental death. It was a majority of 9 to 2. Anne can’t believe it since the Taylor report blamed the police. Steve says the system has never protected them. He believes there is no point in fighting these people because they’ll always do this. As the victims’ families say they want justice, Anne says justice was not done. Next, Anne reads a pamphlet on the train and goes to the Hillsborough Family Support Group. Once she knocks on the door, she is invited in by John Glover (Rob Jarvis) who introduces himself.

She introduces herself and tells them a little about Kevin before the episode ends.

 

Anne Review

The opening episode of Anne has set the stage for an outstanding drama that will undoubtedly pull on viewers’ heartstrings. The episode did a good job of covering the events that took place while using archival news footage. While we can understand that it is primarily focusing on Anne Williams and her fight, I hope the other victims and families aren’t overshadowed.

Regardless, the first episode was outstanding leading me to believe this could be one of the best shows I’ve watched in the past few months. Maxine Peake really brings Anne’s pain to life so much that you can feel it. Stephen Walters was equally good as Steve Williams. I can’t wait to watch the next three episodes. This one deserves an 8 out of 10. Recaps of Anne will be available on Reel Mockery here. Learn how to support Reel Mockery by following this link.