‘It isn’t glamorous. Far from it’: The story behind cult films spawned by notorious triple gangland murder
It became known as the Essex Boys murders, one of the UK’s most notorious gangland killings. On a snowy December morning in 1995, the bodies of three drug dealers were discovered inside a Range Rover parked up on an isolated, snow-covered farm track in the quiet village of Rettendon.
The car’s occupants, Patrick Tate, Tony Tucker and Craig Rolfe, had all been shot dead in a triple murder that quickly became headline news.
More than 25 years later, there have been numerous aggrandising dramatisations, true crime books and documentaries about the massacre, or inspired by the backstories of those who died or their associates. Many may argue more than is necessary, but the audience is there.
The real Bernard O’Mahoney (left), pictured with Jones on set, was a bouncer who knew Tony Tucker, one of the men killed in the triple murder
The biggest franchise fuelled by the events in Rettendon is Rise Of The Footsoldier, which started in 2007 and is now on film number five: Rise Of The Footsoldier Origins. This time round, the film loosely tells Tucker’s origin story, with ultimate hardman Vinnie Jones joining the cast to star as reformed bouncer-turned-author (and former star of Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men) Bernard O’Mahoney, the man behind more than one of those books on the subject.
Drugs, violence, guns, hyper-cockney accents and more four-letter words than Adele and Dave Grohl’s Glastonbury sets combined, the films are typical blokey British gangster fare.
However, O’Mahoney, who says he has never previously watched further than the first film because of the way it glamourised the lifestyle, says the rose-tinted lens has been removed to some extent for the newest offering.
“I’ve always sort of been politely anti them,” he says. “In previous films – and I’m not just talking about Rise of the Footsoldier films, I’m talking about that sort of genre – the bad guys nearly always win, and their lifestyle is portrayed as very glamorous, with all these girls and cars. That’s portraying a success story; they’re usually killed in the end but they have a great life along the way.”
In reality, that period of his own life was “a horrible time where everyone was out for themselves”, O’Mahoney says, and the “drugs world is more like Trainspotting – seedy and dark and no one’s got any money”. But it’s usually “people who have never lived in that environment” producing and directing the films, depicting their idea of the lifestyle.
Origins, which has a new director, Nick Nevern, is different, he says. It “throws a darker cloud” over the story.
“The reason I really like what Nick has done with this film is… they do have a bit of a glamorous life at the beginning, but then the drugs kick in and it shows their rapid decline and [how] they abandon their morals, abandon each other, and loyalty goes out the window, and that, I think, hasn’t been shown in these films previously. And that is exactly what happened.”
Jones has joined the franchise for the first time to play O’Mahoney
O’Mahoney was on set for the filming of several scenes, but hasn’t seen the film in full yet. So while he’s got a point, there is still an element of sheen, and the audience is clearly supposed to root for the characters and their gruesome antics. Still, number five does show a darker side and will almost certainly be less “fun” than number four, Rise Of The Footsoldier: Marbella, which saw the gang on their jollies in Spain.
While the 61-year-old said no to helping with research for the film at first, he says Jones’ casting won him round. “I thought this is their chance of revenge, they’re going to get Barry out of EastEnders or something…” He laughs. “There are similarities between us in looks. But they come back and said Vinnie Jones. I thought, well, at my age, I’m not going to say no to that.”
Jones, O’Mahoney says, didn’t need much advice on how to play him. “How can I put this politely? I think he was a bit of a lad in his day so I think he knows how things work. I don’t think he needed to learn a lot, I think he’s fairly streetwise himself.”
Craig Fairbrass, who has played Patrick Tate throughout the franchise, had moved into more perhaps critically acclaimed territory with recent films Muscle and Villain, and the upcoming Ire, when he got the call about returning for number five. He is refreshingly honest about the Footsoldier films – “they’re not the nicest, they’re very violent, but fans love them” – and about his role.
Fairbrass says fans sometimes think he is like his character in the films
“I’ve never kidded myself as an actor. I’m from London, I’m a certain size and physicality. It’s hard enough to get a job as an actor doing anything and I’ve always said there’s one thing worse than being typecast, that’s not cast.” He originally jumped at the chance to appear in the first film, he says, because he read the script and the “Pat Tate character jumped off the page – a big, horrible, powerful guy who takes liberties”.
But why are people so fascinated by characters like that, and the stories surrounding these murders in particular? Fairbrass says he has asked himself the question many times over the years of playing Tate. “This is not America, it’s England, so for three people to be gunned down at close range, murdered, in Essex in the middle of nowhere, there was a fascination with it straight away, this sort of mystery of who was it, who did this, how did it happen?
“I remember someone saying to me early on, ‘if they ever made a film, you’d make a perfect Pat Tate’. Then, like, 10 years later, I’m in the middle of a forest, soaking wet, drinking brandy, it’s freezing and snowing for real, and we’re doing the murder scene.”
Some fans of the films believe he must be like his character, Fairbrass says, and he has to tell them the reality is “very different”. You’re more likely to see the actor walking his little malshi dog than throwing punches.
“I just think there’s a massive, huge fascination from everybody with anything to do with murder and crime, especially when it’s on your own doorstep,” he says. “And because [the triple murder] was so horrific and you don’t get that every day… at the end of the day, they were gangsters, they weren’t the nicest of people.”
Jones has joined the franchise for the first time to play O’Mahoney
O’Mahoney can vouch for this, himself included at the time. The film portrays him as the level-headed one, who could see when things were turning ugly.
If there’s one thing he wants viewers to know, he says, it’s “don’t do this at home” and that selling drugs “absolutely destroys families”. He worries gang violence is “getting worse and worse”, particularly in London, with “kids killing other kids, you see in the papers, and that all comes from the glamourisation of it all, and it’s not good”.
He’s not proud of his past and says he’s written the books he has to try and show the grim realities, rather than glamourise it.
“I’m 61 now and when I look back at the things we were involved in… there’s a lot of people in Essex who get up and look in the mirror every day and think of me for all the wrong reasons. People have been, you know, scarred or injured.
“Looking back, the things we did and were involved with, it’s embarrassing. You know, how could you even think of doing [those things] to somebody? Most of it was gratuitous. And it got horrible.
“I’m certainly not proud of it, definitely not. Which is why I like what Nick’s done with this film. He’s put that side in, you know, it isn’t glamorous. Far from it.”
Rise Of The Footsoldier Origins is out in cinemas from 3 September
Sarah Jessica Parker was the subject of some unwanted headlines over the past few weeks after saying she reads two books a day.
While speculation of her reading capabilities circulates, the actress continues the challenging mountain of novels she has to get through in order to be a judge for the Booker Prize.
The actress is part of a panel of judges for the literary award which announces the “Booker Dozen” of 12 or 13 books on 29 July, its shortlist on 23 September and the overall winner on 10 November. The winner receives £50,000.
“I have one by my side now,” Sarah Jessica tells Sky News during an interview for her show And Just Like That.
“It’s been hard these last two weeks because we’ve been promoting the show and I thought I would be able to read between interviews, but you can read two words. You can read these three sentences, so I’m feeling very anxious about how many books I have yet to read for our next deliberation,” she says.
The Sex And The City actress compares the workload to preparing to take an exam.
“I’ve not ever felt this behind, including in high school. Like, I really am not entirely sure how I’m going to read the required amount of books by our next deliberation,” she says.
“I thought about this last night in bed, that even if I stay up every day and don’t sleep, I might not make it. So I’m not sure how. I have to not make dinner for anybody, not do anybody’s laundry. I have cut out all tasks. So we’ll see. It’s pretty fantastic, this burden is pretty wonderful.”
Turning to her spin-off series, she says she never paid much attention to the cultural impact Sex And The City had on portraying women in their 30s on screen without a rose-tinted lens.
“I think we’re just always wanting to tell interesting stories,” she says.
“And the rule in the writing room has been, for as long as I’ve known, the story can only be as far removed as one person from the writer, so every single story told has either happened to a writer or to a friend or family member or colleague of the writer.”
She says what makes it real is that the show deals with real moments that happen to women as they age, from children flying the nest to navigating the dating pool.
“You don’t flat line at 50 or 60. People are living pretty colourful, interesting, exciting lives and they have influence and authority. They’re trying new things. They’re leaving marriages. They’re saying goodbye to kids. They’re starting new jobs, they’re leaving jobs, and they’re getting married, they are widows, there’s just endless amounts to talk about and it should be,” she says.
Kristin Davis
‘It is insane there aren’t more shows like us’
Her co-star Kristin Davis agrees and states her main hope for returning was to break certain taboos for women now in their 50s.
“It is insane that there aren’t more shows like us, you know? I’m hoping that there will be,” she says. “It’s very interesting that somehow women, especially at a certain age, you’re just supposed to just vanish. I don’t know where we’re supposed to be and that just makes no sense.”
Cynthia Nixon
Sex And The City was ‘incredibly white’, says Cynthia Nixon
For Cynthia Nixon, playing Miranda now as a lesbian character allowed the show to explore the challenges that face people coming out later in life and navigating the world they find themselves in.
She says although Sex And The City broke taboos for white women in their 30s, she felt the original iteration of their show wasn’t as reflective of the real world as it could have been.
“The one thing that didn’t really sit well with me in the past was how incredibly white the show was,” she says. “So, I think to expand the universe of, you know, who gets to be centred in the show has been a tremendous boon. Whether you’re talking about people of colour, whether you’re talk about queer people, people of different ages. We used to have a wonderfully fascinating lens, but it was fairly narrow.
“We’ve moved in our view of queer people… for so long, if you wanted to put a gay person on screen, one of the ways to make them palatable was to really emphasise their funniness and I think we have many very funny gay characters, but we’re able to, I think, have a more well-rounded view of them.”
And Just Like That is available on Sky and NOW.
Race Across The World contestant Sam Gardiner has died at the age of 24 in a car crash, his family has said.
In a statement, his mother Jo – who appeared on the 2019 series with him – and his father Andrew said: “We are devastated by the loss of our beloved son Sam in a terrible accident.
“Sam left us far too soon, and whilst words will never fully capture the light, joy and energy he brought into our lives, we hold on to the memories that made him so special.
“Sam was adored by his family. As a son, brother and nephew, he was loyal, funny and fiercely protective.”
They added that taking part in Race Across The World “opened his eyes to the wonder of adventure and travel”.
Pic: Greater Manchester Police
The statement continued: “He was willing to go wherever the trail might lead and he touched everyone he met on the road.
“Sam brought warmth, laughter and a smattering of chaos wherever he went. He leaves behind a huge hole in our hearts.
“He found great happiness working as a landscape gardener on the west coast of Scotland. He leaves behind a huge hole in our hearts. We will miss him endlessly, but we’ll also remember him with smiles, tall tales, and a depth of love that will never fade.”
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said the car accident happened on the A34 in Gatley, near Cheadle on Monday night. He died from his injuries on Thursday, they said.
“Emergency services attended the scene after a vehicle was reported to have left the carriageway and rolled before landing on its side,” a spokesperson said.
The 24-year-old was the only person in his car and no other vehicles were involved, they added.
A spokesperson for the makers of Race Across The World said: “Everyone who worked with him and indeed everyone who watched Sam could see just how precious and transformative the trip was for both him and his mum, Jo.
“Sam embraced the seven-week trip with an energy, love and a determination that saw the pair enjoy adventures across Mexico to Argentina making audiences fall in love with them and their special bond as a result.
“We would like to extend our deepest condolences to his parents, Andrew and Jo; his brothers, William and Charlie; his step mum Justine; his family and friends.”
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