20/03/2024
The film Wicked Little Letters, starring Olivia Colman and Jessie Buckley, deals with the strange case of the Littlehampton Letters of 1920, when the quaint seaside town on the south coast was scandalised by a flurry of obscene and offensive letters. The case became a national news story, and the authorities hunted the culprit, who eventually received a prison term for spreading hate. One hundred or so years later, the BBC News Channel notes that "spreading anonymous hate has become commonplace." Many LGBTQIA+ people and members of other minorities will be acutely aware of this. Despite our best efforts to build our own independent media and internet places, the fact that trolls exist online and rant on social media can affect mental health and self esteem. "Everybody's cruel to everybody else online and that's awful," reflects Colman. "I would love to go back to the days where it's not OK. It's a despicable thing to do to someone and we've seen the terrible things that have happened to people who can't cope with the fact that someone they don't know is so unkind about them." The film's writer, comedian Jonny Sweet, adds that he hopes there will be "greater regulation because anonymous hate really destroys people's lives and can be a real nightmare. That's what this story is about - it shows that you can write something anonymously and say some wretched old stuff and think you'll get away with it," he says. Perhaps the culprit would have got away with it if it was not for one woman, police officer Gladys Moss. Sussex's first female officer, Moss served in the force between 1919 and 1941 and was an integral part in solving the Littlehampton libel letter case. Wicked Little Letters is at independent cinemas everywhere and on general release.
