Two Daughters, review: how Mina Smallman's faith helped her cope with unimaginable grief
Anita Singh
2 min read
Two Daughters, review: how Mina Smallman's faith helped her cope with unimaginable grief
The case of Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman was horrifying. Two sisters, celebrating a birthday with a picnic in a park (this was during lockdown, when indoor gatherings were banned) were murdered by a stranger. But imagine then, as a parent, discovering that the police officers tasked with preserving the crime scene had taken selfies with the bodies and sent them to fellow officers as a joke. The police watchdog would later call these “non-official and inappropriate photographs”, which goes very little way towards capturing the appallingness of the act.
Two Daughters (BBC Two) was a film about the parents, Mina and Chris Smallman, and how they coped. It was a study of grief but also of faith, something which is rarely portrayed on television. Mina is an archdeacon, and her belief in God sustained her through the darkest times.
You may have heard Mina on the radio or seen her on the news. She is a passionate, eloquent speaker, campaigning for victims’ rights and aiming her fire at the toxic culture within the Metropolitan Police. It took almost to the end of this shattering documentary to see her at her lowest ebb, after an official report ruled that failings in the police handling of the case were not down to racial stereotyping (despite a call handler referring to one of the women as a “suspect” and police not bothering to launch a search despite pleas from family and friends).
Mina sobbed as she described the sheer effort it took just to get out of bed. “Normally when I’m like this I don’t allow people to see me. I hide away,” she wept. “But this is what a mother’s grief looks like, and the sense of injustice just makes everything 10 times worse because you can’t move forward.”
Chris was his wife’s steadfast support, quietly dealing with his own pain. Unlike Mina, he could not comprehend how, if God did exist, He could allow something so terrible to happen. The film also showed the effect on others including Nicole’s boyfriend, Adam, who had discovered the women’s bodies after the family were forced to mount their own search. He was too upset to appear on film, but his parents spoke for him. “The only way I can describe it is to say that he’s lost,” said his mother.
Mina invited Stacey Dooley to help tell her story. Dooley often overshadows her subjects but not here: she handled things beautifully, treating the Smallmans with empathy and respect, and ensuring that the programme ended on a tribute to their daughters.
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