A play about a notorious case of a black man dying in police custody is being made into a film, with its creator hoping it can ignite a conversation about systemic racism in the UK and dismiss the myth of a post-racial Britain.
Richard Blackwood starred in the stage production of Typical and reprises the role for the film, which sees Alder portrayed as an everyman who is proudly black, British and patriotic after serving in the Falklands conflict. “Our central character doesn’t go to a protest or anything like that, he’s just going on a night out,” Calais Cameron said. “One of the things I’ve tried to get across in this piece is the negotiations that black people need to make in order to do things that seem simple to others.”
Christopher Alder
In the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alder’s case and other deaths in police custody in the UK, such as Joy Gardner and Sean Rigg, have come back to public attention. Since 1990, there have been more than 1,700 deaths in police custody or after contact with the police. Although black people make up only 3% of the UK’s population, black people accounted for 8% of the deaths in police custody, according to figures compiled by the BBC.
Christopher Alder, a Falklands veteran, died in 1998. Photograph: Family Handout/PA
The Alder case became notorious not only because of the fact he died in police custody, but because of the police and authorities actions after his death. A video from the Hull police station, which is featured in Typical, showed officers joking as the former paratrooper died, with monkey noises being clearly audible. In 2002, five police officers were put on trial for manslaughter and misconduct in public office, but surprise surprise were cleared of all charges.
