A film-maker’s newest project, billed as a first for Bermuda, is inspired by the last executions on British soil.

Hafiz Shakur, who wrote and directed Blood on the Crown, first learnt about Erskine “Buck” Burrows and Larry Tacklyn a few years ago.

Burrows was convicted of murdering Commissioner of Police George Duckett in 1972, as well as the assassination of the Governor, Sir Richard Sharples, and his aide-de-camp, Captain Hugh Sayers, six months later.

The two men were shot on the grounds of Government House on March 10, 1973, along with Horsa, Mr Sayers’s Great Dane.

Burrows and Tacklyn had ties to the Black Beret Cadre movement and were also convicted of killing Mark Doe and Victor Rego in 1973 at The Shopping Centre in Hamilton.

The hanging of the men on December 2, 1977, after an unsuccessful campaign for their lives to be spared, marked the first executions in Bermuda since the Second World War.

They were the last executions anywhere under British rule, and sparked the worst riots in Bermuda’s history.

Mr Shakur explained: “I was talking to someone who mentioned their names in a mythical sense and told me what had happened.

“That sent me down the rabbit hole, so I grabbed the bull by the horns and started doing my own research and what some people believe to be the facts.

“I decided to do a film that reimagines if what had happened took place in modern times.”

He added: “I took seven years of information and combined it into an hour-and-a-half movie which has to be entertaining as well.”

The 90-minute film, which was shot in ten days, features an all-Bermudian cast and will debut at the Bermuda College on Saturday.

Mr Shakur said: “It’s the first film of its kind for Bermuda — I believe that people will watch it, get their interest piqued and want to learn more about the story.”

Two screenings will take place in the Athene Theatre.

The first is sold out, but tickets for a 10pm showing are $50 and can be bought via bdatix.bm.