TV Drama to be made about Daisy, successful campaigner for law on children born of rape
Tyler Rigby – 4 September 2023
The extraordinary story of a woman who fought for a prosecution of her birth father who raped her mother when she was 13 years old is about to get the TV treatment. The series, coming soon, is a product of the minds behind hard hitting dramas like Consent and the latest in the I Am series – I Am Ruth.
The subject of the story, a black woman only known as ‘Daisy’ due to her desire for anonymity, was adopted by white parents a few weeks after her birth. Once she turned 18, she was granted access to her social services file that revealed Carvel Bennett raped Daisy’s mother when he was 28 and escaped conviction. Daisy met with her mother when she turned 20 and, after feeling emboldened and determined following the public outrage surrounding the Jimmy Saville scandal, felt a burning desire to see Bennett brought to justice while he was still alive.
What then transpired was a 10-year campaign to make authorities recognise what had been done to Daisy and her mother. But as Daisy’s mother did not want to testify during that period, she was told consistently that under English law, she could not be considered a victim of the crime. Carvel Bennett was eventually convicted in August 2021, once Daisy’s mother bravely agreed to testify, and he is currently serving a nine-year sentence in prison. That isn’t where the story ends however, as Daisy pushed on to fight for the rights of all children of rape and to demand that they be recognised as the victims they are in the eyes of the law. Her tenacity led to a great success. People conceived of rape are now recognised in the Victims’ Code in England and Wales, a trailblazing recognition that is among the first of its kind.
The drama will cover Daisy’s life and struggle to hold Bennett accountable for his crimes, as well as her work campaigning for the groundbreaking legislation that has been heralded by victims of abuse and assault nationwide. Perhaps exposure of the issue through a piece of narrative media will give other lawmakers reason to follow suit. The mini-series, currently titled Kin, will be written by Emma Dennis-Edwards and produced by Krishnendu Majumdar.