How this detective brought racist murderers to justice with ‘Conviction’
The racially motivated 1993 murder of 19-year-old Stephen Lawrence in southeast London made headlines — but for all the wrong reasons.It took nearly 20 years for two of his killers to be brought to justice against the backdrop of a massive coverup by the Metropolitan Police. That long narrative road is the crux of “Conviction: The Case of Stephen Lawrence,” a three-part series on Acorn TV starring Steve Coogan as dogged DCI Clive Driscoll, who reopened the case and spent six years getting to the truth of what really happened that night.“Conviction” aired last August on ITV in the UK under the title “Stephen.” It’s not the first time that ITV dramatized the case; a 1997 movie, “The Murder of Stephen Lawrence,” starred Marianne Jeanne-Baptiste and Hugh Quarshie as Steven’s parents, Doreen and Neville Lawrence.Quarshie reprises his role in “Conviction,” with Sharlene Whyte as Doreen.