A gripping box-set thriller telling the story of the false grooming ring allegations that tore apart the remote coastal community of Barrow.

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With exclusive access to the men accused, and a host of other key players – from internet sleuths to duped charity workers and Asian restaurant owners – this is a multi-perspective and multi-layered story, full of conflicting emotions and morality.

In the wake of the Rochdale and Rotherham grooming ring scandals, it offers a unique lens on how gossip and innuendo can be weaponised against Asian men in overwhelmingly white communities.

In May 2020, as the UK was emerging from the most stringent of lockdowns, 19-year-old Ellie Williams wrote a Facebook post that went viral. Alongside a photograph of her bruised and battered face and body, she said she was the victim of a grooming gang and had been raped and trafficked multiple times. Her post sparked outrage and protests in her hometown and across the UK, as supporters rallied round demanding justice for Ellie.

What nobody could have guessed though, is that two and a half years later, Ellie Williams would be found guilty on eight counts of perverting the course of justice, and accused of being a liar and a fraud.

 

Drawing on a rich seam of online archive, and with exclusive access to a range of people from across the community – this is a stranger-than-fiction tale of how a shocking lie sparked a devastating wild goose chase, heaping pressure on the police and exposing a dark underbelly of racism in the process.
This is a true-crime story that challenges every idea we have of what a victim or perpetrator is. And confronts some of the most controversial issues of our age: from false allegations and policing in an internet age, to mob justice and trial by social media.