Sus

Election night, 1979. Margaret Thatcher is about to come to power. A young black man, Leon Delroy, is held at an East London police station on suspicion of murdering his pregnant wife. Detectives Karn and Wilby, racist to the core and high on the prospect of a Conservative victory, try to lure him into a quick confession.

Delroy does not even know his wife is dead. The officers string him along. Callous humiliation gives way to a barrage of sinister violence, and the night moves towards a devastating conclusion.

Written by Barrie Keeffe, the writer behind the British classic The Long Good Friday, Sus is a tense, emotionally charged crime drama and an outcry against institutional racism. It also asks a question that has not gone away: in the age of counter-terrorism, has history caught up with us?

“Sus” was the informal name for a stop and search law that let a police officer act on suspicion alone.

It rested on sections 4 and 6 of the Vagrancy Act 1824, which made it illegal for “a suspected person or reputed thief” to frequent or loiter in a public place with intent to commit an arrestable offence. In practice it let the police stop, search and even arrest anyone they chose, purely on suspicion, as a crime prevention tactic.

The law was used disproportionately against black and minority ethnic communities and caused deep resentment. Its abuse was widely seen as a factor in the riots in St Pauls, Bristol, in 1980, and in Brixton and Toxteth in 1981. It was abolished soon after.

In January 2008, David Cameron, then Leader of the Opposition, said that if elected he would seek to return similar powers to the police. By 2010, as Clint Dyer pointed out, around ten thousand people a month were being stopped under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act.

I wrote Sus shortly after Margaret Thatcher was swept to power in May 1979 and told the world from the doorway of Number Ten, “Where there is discord may we bring harmony. Where there is despair may we bring hope.” Living in South East London at the time, where the British fascists were causing fear and havoc, I felt very little hope, and wrote the play.

The story was a true incident I had covered as a reporter on a local weekly newspaper many years before. But it wasn't until Thatcher took up the reins that I found the backdrop for the play: election night, the “new dawn”, as Karn chillingly puts it. I'm saddened that this piece of work I wrote thirty years ago, and thought was exactly what one critic called “instant political theatre”, actually does have a painful resonance now.

Barrie Keeffe, 2010

Keeffe (1945 to 2019) worked for eleven years as a reporter on the Stratford Express before writing for the stage. He told the Camden New Journal where the story came from: “One day, when I was a young journalist, a black guy came to say this had happened to him. He was a broken, broken man.”

“It was writers like Barrie Keeffe that opened up the world for me. For the first time there was a purpose in this goddamn work other than just strutting around and spouting.”

Daniel Day-Lewis

On 3 May 2009, Clint Dyer, Robert Heath, Jono Smith and Robin Mahoney met to discuss a film of Barrie Keeffe's play. By coincidence it was thirty years to the day since the night the story is set.

All four were struck by how relevant the story still was. A general election was looming, possibly leading to a Tory victory. The Metropolitan Police's use of stop and search was taking up more and more column inches. A film was an opportunity not to be missed.

Sus was shot in CinemaScope on the RED camera in ten days, at Elstree Studios and on location in East London, including Shoreditch. Much of the team came from Hackney: the director from Dalston, Clint Dyer from De Beauvoir, and Mensch Films from London Fields, which co-ordinated post-production.

“We hope it's going to be a sleeper hit, a film that's so good that word of mouth keeps it alive in the cinema. It's a collaborative film made on a low budget by the community. We don't have a studio or a big budget from a TV company, but we had faith in the project.”

Robin Mahoney, Hackney Gazette, April 2010

The score is by Sally Herbert, with cello by Ian Burdge and additional music by Goldie, Nicholas Sutton and Joss Albert. The film uses The Specials' “It's Up to You” and lyrics from Bob Marley's “No Woman No Cry”, by kind permission of the Marley Estate. The film weaves in real footage of the period: Thatcher and Callaghan on the stump, David Dimbleby and Angela Rippon presenting, riots, Enoch Powell and Alf Garnett. Archive material came from the BBC, Don Letts and Menelik Shabazz.

Clint Dyer, Delroy and producer

From “When police behaviour looks sus”, interview by Davina Morris, The Voice, 2 May 2010.

“Sus reflects a lot of my experiences with the police, and experiences of other people I know. It's important that people get to the heart of the matter. We all know that these situations happen. But most of the time, we never feel the right type of sympathy for the person it's actually happening to.”

“This is a moving story about the actual victim, and it really penetrates the heart instead of the head.”

“What I hope is that this film makes youngsters more political and shows them that they have every right to go where they want.”

“My biggest hope is that it reaches both black and white audiences. It's neither a black or a white story. It's about England.”

Ralph Brown, DS Karn

From “Sus is a real vote winner”, Dan Carrier, Camden New Journal, 15 April 2010.

“He makes Gene Hunt look like a character from Heartbeat.”

“He is quite a peacock. He thinks he is the most reasonable bloke in the world.”

“When you step into someone's shoes you can't forget him, and you have to let the story take over, and be prepared for the other characters to fight their corner.”

“People remember Margaret Thatcher. Even young people have folk memories of the time from their families and know of the damage she did to the country.”

Barrie Keeffe, writer

Quoted in “Keeffe's Brit angry men”, Camden New Journal, 6 May 2010.

“There was that sort of smell, hatred in the air. I was drawing on my experience of that fear. That prejudice, you can smell it when you're going to be the victim of it.”

Robin Mahoney, editor and producer

Hackney Gazette, 1 April 2010.

“It's about the attitudes people have to those who are different to them. Institutionalised racism and bigotry are themes that keep rearing over our heads. Our mission is to get as many people to see this and, hopefully, it will change a few minds.”

Ralph Brown, DS Karn

Brown's film roles include Danny the dealer in Withnail & I, Dave in the Academy Award-winning The Crying Game, Ronnie Biggs in Buster, roadie Del Preston in Wayne's World 2, Mr Burton in Mean Machine, Sergeant Major Harris in Paul Schrader's Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist, and CIA renegade Mr Collins opposite Wesley Snipes in The Contractor. He appeared in Steven Spielberg's Amistad and played DJ Bob Silver in Richard Curtis's The Boat That Rocked (2009). On television he played Miami Vice in Lock, Stock… and Frank Morgan in Life on Mars. As a writer he won the Samuel Beckett Award for his first play, Sanctuary, later nominated for two Helen Hayes Awards, and wrote New Year's Day, winner at Raindance and Sapporo in 2001.

Clint Dyer, Leon Delroy

Dyer had acted for twenty years in film, television and theatre, in films including The Trail, Cherps, Mr Inbetween, Everybody Loves Sunshine and Love Me Still, and on television in Prime Suspect, Trial & Retribution, Dalziel & Pascoe, The Commander, Lock, Stock… and Thief Takers. On stage he worked with directors including Mike Leigh, Michael Attenborough, Jane Howell, Mike Bradwell, Dawn Walton and Philip Hedley. He directed the Olivier and Evening Standard nominated The Big Life, which took it to the Apollo on Shaftesbury Avenue: the first Black British musical in the West End.

Rafe Spall, DC Wilby

Spall was spotted in a National Youth Theatre production of Nicholas Nickleby. His films include Shaun of the Dead, The Calcium Kid, Green Street, where he played hooligan Swill opposite Charlie Hunnam, Hot Fuzz and the Grindhouse segment Don't. He went on to play William Shakespeare in Roland Emmerich's Anonymous.

Anjela Lauren Smith, Georgie

Smith has played gritty leads in Babymother and 24 Hours in London, and appeared opposite Chiwetel Ejiofor in Simon Mirren's Greenwich Mean Time. Her television includes Martina Cole's The Jump and The Amazing Mrs Pritchard, and her films Cherps and Guy Ritchie's Revolver.

Robert Heath, director and producer

Heath has worked in film since 1991. His first short as writer and director, Cereal Killer (2000), played Edinburgh, London and Berlin and won the Canal+ Prix for Best European Short at Brest. His second, Ice Cool Reception, played the London and Los Angeles festivals and was runner-up in the TCM Classic Shorts competition. His first feature, Out on a Limb (2004), won Best Comedy at the Wine Country Film Festival and Best Actress at Cherbourg, and was released in UK cinemas in 2005. He has also made award-winning documentaries and promos for the Discovery Channel and Channel 4.

Robin Mahoney, editor and producer

Mahoney produced his first feature, The Punk, which premiered at Cannes and was released in the UK, Australia, Canada, France and Japan. He then directed, produced, shot and edited Glastonbury The Movie, the first British feature funded by the National Lottery through the BFI, which premiered at the London Film Festival. He cut and associate produced Heath's Cereal Killer. Through Mensch Films he has made chart-topping music DVDs with Basement Jaxx, The Prodigy, Pixies, The White Stripes, Lemon Jelly and Dizzee Rascal. The Pixies release was nominated for Best Music DVD at the 2005 NME Awards. He was creative director for the multimedia work on Amnesty's Secret Policeman's Ball, nominated for a BAFTA and the Rose d'Or. His audiovisual album We Made Our Own Disaster came out the same year as Sus.

Jono Smith, director of photography and producer

Born in New Zealand, Smith had 23 years behind the camera by 2010. His features include Mad Dogs and Bollywood Queen, selected for Sundance and James McAvoy's first lead role. On television he shot the first series of Peep Show, three series of Derren Brown and the first series of ITV's The Fixer, winner of the RTS award for Best Drama.

Clint Dyer, producer

Sus was the first film produced by Dyer's 3rd Eye Films. He had directed a trilogy of shorts with Positive Strides UK. Pukka won at the Notting Hill Film Festival and played Seattle and Cannes. One of Us won Best Drama at the Hollywood Very Short Movie awards and was named one of the UK Film Council's top ten shorts. Second Chance played Raindance and Clermont-Ferrand. As a writer he has been commissioned by Scala Films, Screen East, the Royal Court and Soho Theatre.

Mark Sutherland, production designer and co-producer

Sutherland designed his first feature, White Angel, in 1993 for Living Spirit Pictures, and has worked with them since, including on Urban Ghost Story and the short Gone Fishing. He collaborated with Positive Strides UK on all three of Clint Dyer's shorts. His drama credits include Crooked House for the BBC, Gulliver's Travels, and art direction on Mark Gatiss's The First Men in the Moon.