Believe Me review – this punchy, intelligent drama is a role model for other TV shows

The tale of ‘black-cab rapist’ John Worboys gives the spotlight to the survivors. It’s a sensitive, compelling look at their fight for justice – which rightly pushes the perpetrator into the background In 1982, the film-maker Roger Graef made the first ever fly-on-the-wall documentary, in 12 parts, about the police. One of the episodes – A Complaint of Rape – showed Thames Valley detectives aggressively questioning a woman with a history of psychiatric treatment who had reported being violated by three strangers. “This is the biggest bollocks I’ve ever heard!” is a fairly representative sample of the police interview technique deployed. The episode caused a public outcry (especially as it was broadcast after a court decision in which a judge accused a hitchhiker of “contributory negligence” in her own rape) and led to the formation of an all-female rape investigation team at the police station in the months afterwards. It has been seen as a pivotal moment for a revolution in the way victims and their cases were approached and handled. And maybe it was, at least for a while. But it’s hard to say with any conviction that any progress gained has been maintaine