Four Lives

Four Lives, originally and internationally titled The Barking Murders, is a British television miniseries, first aired from 3 to 5 January 2022 on BBC One. It follows the true story of the families of four young gay men (Anthony Walgate, Gabriel Kovari, Daniel Whitworth and Jack Taylor) who in 2014 and 2015 were murdered by Stephen Port. Facing failings by the Metropolitan Police, they fought for justice for their loved ones. Stephen Merchant plays serial killer Port with Sheridan Smith as Sarah Sak, the mother of Anthony Walgate, Port's first victim.

Production
First announced in early 2020, production on the show was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The series was delayed twice after its announcement. On 13 December 2021 the official trailer was released with stills from the show being released on social media. During promotion for the series, Sheridan Smith said: "Every night I was going home in bits, crying – you can't help but take it home [...] I really beat myself up with it because I want to do a good job for them."

Cast

 * Stephen Merchant as Stephen Port
 * Sheridan Smith as Sarah Sak
 * Tim Preston as Anthony Walgate
 * Jakub Svec as Gabriel Kovari
 * Leo Flanagan as Daniel Whitworth
 * Samuel Barnett as Ryan Edwards
 * Paddy Rowan as Jack Taylor
 * Robert Emms as Ricky
 * Michael Jibson as DC Slaymaker
 * Kris Hitchen as Tom
 * Memet Ali Alabora as Sami Sak
 * Daniel Ryan as Adam Whitworth
 * Rufus Jones as John Pape
 * Ian Puleston-Davies as Karl Turner MP
 * Giselle Cullinane as Barbara Denham
 * Ben Cartwright as Det. Sgt. O'Donnell
 * Leanne Best as Kate
 * Isabella Laughland as China
 * Alexa Davies as Kiera
 * Shaun Thomas as Paul
 * Jack Pierce as Acting DI Rolf Schamberger
 * Ella Kenion as Mandy Pearson
 * Jaime Winstone as Donna Taylor
 * Stephanie Hyam as Jenny Taylor
 * Holly Aird as Jeanette Taylor
 * Tom Christian as DC Ian Atkinson
 * Jason Done as a Barking Police Sergeant
 * Mollie Winnard as Demi

Release
Four Lives first aired from 3 to 5 January 2022 on BBC One.

It aired on SBS Television in Australia over three weeks from 14 April 2022.

Four Lives is distributed internationally by BritBox as The Barking Murders.

Reception
Ed Cumming of The Independent rated the series with four stars out of five, writing "In less sensitive hands, a case like this could lend itself to prurience or melodrama, but Neil Mackay's [sic] script and David Blair's direction deftly avoid these traps". In The Guardian, Lucy Mangan gave a three-star rating, saying "The drama does a good job of making the victims... live again" but also noted "Beyond that and despite the usual great work of Sheridan Smith and others, the drama never catches fire". Hugo Rifkind of The Times wrote, "Superficially, the most interesting thing about Four Lives was the casting of the great Stephen Merchant as Port. There's something intrinsically chilling about a comedian as a killer, but Merchant was more blank than sinister. This didn't particularly matter because although Port inevitably sat at the heart of Four Lives, this was more a story about police incompetence".