The untold story of the horrific 2017 fire.
Described by the Guardian as a “remarkable documentary”, Grenfell: The Untold Story is a forensic, feature-length look at the Grenfell Tower disaster that took place in London in 2017.
72 people died after a fire broke out in the 24-storey block of flats in North Kensington on 14 June, 2017, while over 70 other individuals were injured. 223 people managed to escape the disaster.
The tragic event marked the deadliest residential blaze in the UK since the days of World War II.
The cause of the incident was put down to a malfunctioning fridge-freezer on the fourth floor. The subsequent fire burned for approximately 60 hours before finally being extinguished, with over 250 London Fire Brigade personnel and 70 fire engines attending to the situation.
Public inquiries, police investigations, civil lawsuits and an endless array of questions continue to be carried out in the aftermath of the devastating event, with the overall structural integrity of Grenfell Tower still in debate.
Four years on, a new Channel 4 documentary, airing tonight (Wednesday 8 September), presents a powerful record of the timeline leading up to the tragedy as captured by artist Constantine Gras.
Gras, a resident of Grenfell Tower, shot footage from inside the building years before the blaze took place. His account provides both a difficult foreshadowing of the horror to come as well as a portrait of the strength found within the building’s community.
Gras was originally hired to make a promotional video about the tower’s 2015 refurbishment project, but later found himself “radicalised” by the events in 2017 and refused to support what he came to perceive as “artwashing”.
“It cuts me when I watch the footage of residents who haven’t survived,” he told The i this week.
“I work for residents now, not developers,” he said. “I don’t want to paper over the cracks of redevelopment.
“Hopefully the film with shed a new light on the tragedy of what happened, the lack of real engagement and consultation between authorities, and residents and their grave housing challenges.”
Grenfell: The Untold Story is on Channel 4 tonight at 10pm
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