

25 minutes. One girl. A suburbia that chews her up.
Beverley is a short film written and directed by Alexander Thomas and produced by Cass Pennant and starring Vicky McClure and Laya Lewis. It follows the identity struggles of a mixed-race teenager who moves to white suburbia. Her fight to fit in with the local gang leads to devastating consequences.
Acting
Laya Lewis carries catastrophic vulnerability
Direction
Thomas packs feature-film pressure into 25 mins
Writing
Dialogue that punches — no wasted breath
Director
Alexander Thomas
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Cass Pennant — legendary football hooligan turned filmmaker — produced this, bringing authentic British subculture credibility that Hollywood could never fake.
Made for £20k through crowd-funding, then lost for years before YouTube resurrection. The 90s Leicester setting was shot in modern locations with painstaking detail.