Panorama: Hillsborough – How They Buried the Truth

‘You’re right, Anne. But you’ll not beat the system.’ Anne Williams got used to hearing variations on this sentence throughout the 24 years she spent campaigning on behalf of her son Kevin for the full story of the Hillsborough disaster to be told. But she never gave up and, just before her death earlier this year, she found a vindication of sorts. But any victories were unlikely ones and this documentary shows why.

Even as the following day’s newspapers were being digested, the Hillsborough cover-up was beginning. The feeding of malicious lies to the tabloid press was underway. Police statements were being vetted and altered (a staggering and shameful 116 in total). In short, the blame for the tragedy was to be put ‘where it deserved to be’. And maybe, one day, it will be.

Clearly, this is one of many documentaries exploring these still barely believable events. But this particular film benefits (if that’s an appropriate word for such distressing material) from new and revealing footage of the events in the Leppings Lane end of Sheffield Wednesday’s ground that afternoon in 1989. Remarkable and moving by turns.