Documentary featuring Imperial research wins BAFTA TV award

“Grenfell Uncovered” won the award for Best Single Documentary at the BAFTA Television Awards on 10 May.

The film was released on Netflix in June 2025 and tells the story of the 2017 Grenfell Tower tragedy. Professor Guilermo Rein, who appears in the documentary explaining how ACM (Aluminium Composite Material) burns, was present at the BAFTA TV Awards ceremony alongside the filmmaking team. 

Professor Rein explains: "At the centre of the Grenfell Tower fire was ACM cladding with a polyethylene core, a highly flammable material that enabled rapid fire spread up, down and around the whole tower. The tragedy was the result of multiple safety failures, poor technical decisions, fraudulent behaviour, regulatory weaknesses, ignored warnings, and misplaced priorities.

One of the strongest lessons from fire disasters is how quickly collective memory can fade. Immediately after a fire, society pays close attention. Investigations begin, experts are consulted, promises are made. But months later, awareness rapidly declines, and only a small number of professionals remain deeply engaged with the lessons. This fading memory leads to what we call “fire amnesia”, and it is dangerous. Safety failures that are forgotten are more likely to be repeated.

That is why documentaries like this matter. As Olaide Sadiq said during the BAFTA acceptance speech, “the victims of Grenfell deserve much more than remembrance, they deserve accountability, change and justice”. Telling this story clearly and honestly is essential.

I hope this BAFTA recognition helps the documentary reach even wider audiences, nationally and internationally. The lessons of the Grenfell Tower fire require truth, honesty, bravery, listening, and sustained public awareness.”

The director of “Grenfell: Uncovered” Olaide Sadiq also won an Emerging Talent award earlier in April at the BAFTA Television Craft Awards, where it had received three other nominations, as well as the 2025 Audience Award at Sheffield DocFest, the UK’s largest documentary festival.