Groomed: The Truth Behind The Lie

When Ellie Williams’ allegations of grooming went viral, they tore the town of Barrow-in-Furness apart. Police quickly denied there was a grooming gang and Ellie was jailed, but did the focus on proving one young woman a liar lead to denial of a wider grooming problem?

This series re-examines Ellie Williams’ case, revealing details not heard at trial and uncovering links to other women whose abuse was ignored for years, implicating a group of predominantly Asian men. The series explores how far-right groups have weaponised such cases to push their agenda, while agencies, wary of racism accusations, have often avoided confronting perpetrators’ ethnicity.

Told through survivor testimony and with participation from Ellie Williams’ family, the series places Barrow within a long line of grooming scandals and asks: why can’t Britain confront this problem and who pays the ultimate price?

Handling such a sensitive and inflammatory subject required Sky News' Full Story Films and the award-winning Sandpaper Films to work together incredibly closely in order to tell the story as sensitively as possible whilst doing justice to the bravery of the contributors. Behind the scenes, it took the brilliant team at ENVY, working on offline and finishing, to have the first episode ready for debut at Sheffield DocFest, and then at Sky Post Production on episodes two and three in time for transmission on Sky Documentaries and streaming on NOW. Both post houses gave the client their complete support, creatively and collaboratively, working together wherever suited Full Story and Sandpaper Films best, to achieve a mutually successful outcome.