Channel 5 will explore the Dale Farm tragedy as Firecracker's feature-length documentary focuses on the gypsy evictions and the council.
The greenlight for Gypsy Eviction: The Battle for Dale Farm comes fresh off the back of Firecracker securing a double W greenlight for Emma Willis: Delivering Babies and Stacey Dooley Sleeps Over.
The 90-minute single tells of the decade long battle between Irish travellers, local residents and the council over a former scrapyard known as Dale Farm in Basildon, Essex which the travellers owned but developed without planning permission.
When the High Court eventually granted permission for the council to evict the travellers, Dale Farm became the site of a turf war, which resulted in harrowing scenes of violence.
Firecracker's Head of Factual Entertainment, Fed Ruiz described the event as "one of the most shocking and brutal events in recent British history. Doing it justice and putting it in proper historical context was our top priority in this feature doc".
The documentary is similar in scope to Firecracker's The Town The Gypsies Took Over for Channel 5, which consolidated 1.9 million (10.2%) in a Tuesday 9pm slot last year and documented Cumbria's Appleby Horse Fair gypsy gathering.
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