WARNING: This article contains graphic details which may be disturbing to some readers.
A deplorable act of violence which took place in 1997 right here in Victoria has been made into a limited series and aired its first two episodes in the United States last night, on Tuesday, April 16th.
The show is titled Under the Bridge and is based on a book written about Virk’s death at the hands of her classmates by Victorian born author, Rebecca Godfrey.
Under the Bridge stars Lily Gladstone who was recently nominated for an Oscar for best actress because of her role in Killers of the Flower Moon and it also stars Riley Keough who recently starred in the limited series Daisy Jones & The Six.
Virk’s role went to 14-year-old Vritika Gupta, who has been acting since age 7.
Although the series launched last night on Hulu and has aired in Brazil, France, the United States and Mexico last night, it has been announced that the show will air in Canada on May 8th via Disney+.
What happened to Reena Virk
14-year-old Virk was killed after she met with a group of teenagers underneath the Craigflower Bridge, now 27 years ago.
There, she was beaten viciously by a few in the group until one of the youths stopped the beating violence.
Virk then reportedly tried to flee, but she was badly beaten and was followed by two of the teens who broke off from the group.
Warren Paul Glowatski and Kelly Marie Ellard proceeded to drown her while she was unconscious after viciously assaulting her a second time.
Then 16-year-old Glowatski was convicted of second degree murder and given a life sentence.
However, he was still a minor at the time and through a lengthy parole hearing process was granted full parole in 2010.
Ellard had a long, drawn out sentencing as well.
She went through three trials because of hung juries and judgment errors but was eventually given a life sentence in 2005 with possibility of parole in seven years.
She was granted conditional day parole in 2017 and changed her name to Kelly Marie Sim.
In May 2022, then 39-years-old, Sim (Ellard) waived her right to a parole hearing as she did not feel ready to return to society on a full time basis.
The limited-series
The series has acquired the rights to the story via Rebecca Godfrey’s book but it is unclear at this time whether or not the production team making the limited-series consulted with Virk’s family for permission in making the show.
Some of the show’s episodes will be headed up by Indo-American director, producer and writer, Geeta Vasant Patel.
So far, the first two episodes have received mostly positive reviews, with the first episode, “Looking Glass” has a 7.3 rating on IMDb and the second episode, “The John Gotti of Seven Oaks” has an 8.0 rating.
Overall, the series has a 6.9 IMDb rating.
