Channel 4 announces factual drama VENGEANCE: MURDER ON THE HEATH from makers of Dirty Business and Consent

Channel 4 has announced Vengeance: Murder on the Heath, a 2x60’ factual drama that tells the story of the killing of 21 year old Gagandip Singh by his friend Harvinder ‘Ravi’ Shoker in 2011. Branded by the press as the ‘Honeytrap Murder’, the case garnered national interest for the part played by Gagandip’s friend Mundill Mahil, with whom he had tried to pursue a romantic relationship.

Gagandip Singh, a talented young television entrepreneur and Sikh community influencer, cultivated a close friendship with 19-year-old student doctor Mundill Mahil. However, Mundill accused Gagandip of sexually assaulting her when he turned up unannounced one night to Mundill’s Brighton student house. As she managed to push him off her, Gagandip pleaded for her forgiveness. But Mundill confided her upset to Ravi, who was also in love with her, and together they hatched a plan to lure Gagandip back to the student house, where he would be ‘taught a lesson’. After a vicious beating left him unconscious, Gagandip was placed in the boot of his sister’s Mercedes, which was then driven to Blackheath, London, and set on fire. He died a terrible death on Angerstein Lane – a residential road adjacent to the eastern edge of the heath in Blackheath. A post-mortem revealed he was alive when the car was ignited and that he died from inhaling toxic fumes.

Although she herself had not been in the room when Gagandip was attacked, at trial Mundill was characterised as a ‘manipulative’, ‘ruthless’ young woman, ‘the Sikh Virgin’ at the heart of a ‘twisted love triangle’, seeking retribution.

Mundill, Ravi and Ravi’s accomplice Darren Peters (20) were all charged with murder but they ended up with different convictions and wildly different sentences. Ravi was convicted of murder and given 22 years, Darren for Manslaughter and given 12 years and Mundill convicted of GBH with intent. She was given 6 years.

Drawing on police interviews, text messages, court documents and original interviews this drama takes us deep into the heart of the young British Sikh community, presenting a complex picture of crime and punishment and asking lots of difficult questions along the way.

The programme features a cast of up and coming British Asian actors SASHA DESOUZA-WILLOCK (Adult Material) as Mundill Mahil, DEE AHLUWALIA (Buddha of Suburbia) as Gagandip Singh, IKKY KABIR (Bait) as Harvinder ‘Ravi’ Shoker, SAFIYYA INGAR (The Witcher) as Amandipkaur Singh, GAVI SINGH CHERA (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) as Gagan’s friend Jas - as well as high profile turns from LAILA ROUASS (Footballers’ Wives) as Gagan’s mother Tajinder Kaur, SHUBHAM SARAF (A Suitable Boy) as barrister Aftab Jafferjee and ASIM CHAUDHRY (People Just Do Nothing) as Gagan’s unreliable ‘friend and mentor’ SONNY.

Vengeance: Murder on the Heath is a Halcyon’s Heart Films production written and directed by multi Bafta winner AYSHA RAFAELE (director of Person of Interest and executive producer of Murdered by my Father, Consent, Dirty Business). It is produced by MEESHAN SAXENA and ARZOO PATANKAR and executive produced by JOSEPH BULLMAN. The commissioning editor at Channel 4 is SHAMINDER NAHAL.

Aysha Rafaele, Writer and Director says: “As a British Asian film maker with a background in documentaries, I am fascinated by real stories from our community that are both specific to the culture but also resonate well beyond it. Everything about the shocking murder of Gagandip Singh and the circumstances surrounding it was to prove extraordinary. How young everyone involved in the case was, how an accusation of attempted rape led to these young people taking the law into their own hands – playing at being God themselves – instead of just going to the police, and how this vigilante style justice backfired so horrifically. It’s a haunting crime that continues to cast a long shadow and I am proud to have been able to work with such a talented young cast of up and coming British Asian actors to bring this devastating story to C4.”

Shaminder Nahal, Head of Specialist Factual at Channel 4 says: “This powerful and gripping series takes us straight into the hearts and minds of a group of young people navigating a messy world of blurred lines, fear, shame and violence. Aysha Rafaele, who has created and contributed to an astonishing body of work at Channel 4, brings her unique vision and storytelling to an urgent series that asks big questions about modern Britain, what justice means and whether revenge can ever be justified. Vengeance: Murder on the Heath will get under your skin, and stay in your mind long after watching.”

FURTHER INFORMATION

Halcyon’s Heart Films

Halcyon’s Heart Films is an independent tv production company run by Joseph Bullman and Aysha Rafaele, known for making provocative, agenda setting factual drama based on deep research. Previous productions include Partygate, Person Of Interest & most recently Dirty Business for C4.



WRITER/ DIRECTOR: AYSHA RAFAELE

Aysha Rafaele is a multi-BAFTA award winning Executive Producer known for a raft of powerful factual drama such as Dirty Business, Partygate, Consent, Life and Death in the Warehouse, The Left Behind, Killed By My Debt, Murdered by My Father, Against the Law, Murdered For Being Different & Mother’s Day. She was also Executive Producer on Louis Theroux’s Bafta nominated documentaries Transgender Kids, By Reason of Insanity, Drinking to Oblivion, as well as BBC3 smash hit The Call Centre (Winner Welsh Bafta, Best Documentary Series, Winner Digital Broadcast Best Popular Factual Award) and Life And Death Row.

She started her career as a documentary director at the BBC where her very first film was nominated for a BAFTA and two RTS awards – Best Newcomer and Best Arts Programme for Stevie Smith: Not Waving But Drowning. She went on to win an RTS for her film This England about the schism between second generation Asian kids who were part of the Asian Underground music scene and their parents.– before going onto direct episodes of E4’s iconic teen drama series SKINS.

Since stepping back into directing, she has written and directed a half hour film PERSON OF INTEREST for C4 starring Asim Chaudhry as a paranoid mini-cab driver who thinks he’s under surveillance – or is his sleep deprived brain playing tricks on him? As well as short film RUBY starring Sasha Desouza-Willock and Mandip Gill – a dark fairytale set within a British Pakistani Muslim family in South London.