‘Baby P: The Untold Story’ TV documentary announced by BBC

The BBC is to show a documentary on the ‘untold’ story of the tragic death of Peter Connelly in 2007.

‘Baby P: The Untold Story’ will feature interviews with Sharon Shoesmith, director of children’s services for Haringey at the time, as well as Peter’s social worker Maria Ward, her manager Gillie Christou, and the husband of Dr Sabah Al-Zayyat, the last medical practitioner to see the boy before he died.

The documentary aims to reveal how some institutions did not come under the spotlight whilst the attention was focused on social workers.

Director Henry Singer said: “When I realised that Peter Connelly’s tragic death wasn’t uncommon – a child dies once every 10 days at the hand of a parent in this country – I realised that the extraordinary reaction to his death might tell us something really fundamental about our society, the media, politics and about us.”

Singer said that on discovering that other professionals besides the social workers and doctor were in a position to save him, he wondered whether people were given the full story about his death.

The documentary will air on Monday 27 October at 8.30pm on BBC One.

• Sharon Shoesmith will be taking part in a debate on blame and accountability in child protection at Community Care Live Children and Families on 20 November. The event is free to attend for professional social workers.