Why Channel 4’s The Push: Murder On The Cliff is such an important documentary

the push murder on the cliff

Credit: Channel 4

Under Her Eye


Why Channel 4’s The Push: Murder On The Cliff is such an important documentary

By Kayleigh Dray

13 months ago

3 min read

The mother of murdered Fawziyah Javed says she hopes the two-part documentary, The Push: Murder On The Cliff, about her daughter’s death will help save the lives of other women. 


In September 2021, Fawziyah Javed – a 31-year-old lawyer who “stood for fun, fairness and justice”, according to her mother – fell from the top of Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.

“He pushed me,” Javed told PC Rhiannon Clutton, one of the first police officers to arrive on the scene. And, tragically, these proved to be her dying words, as Javed – who was 17 weeks pregnant at the time of the incident – soon succumbed to her devastating injuries.

An investigation quickly confirmed that Javed had been visiting Edinburgh with her husband, Kashif Anwar. Indeed, CCTV footage taken just hours before her death revealed the couple walking arm-in-arm through the Scottish city. It took less than two days before Anwar was arrested and charged with his wife’s murder.

Now, Channel 4’s The Push: Murder On The Cliff takes viewers on an extraordinary journey as it follows the murder trial, minute by minute, in a bid to raise awareness around coercive control and domestic abuse.

Watch the trailer for The Push: Murder On The Cliff below.

What is The Push: Murder On The Cliff about?

“With exclusive access to the court, Fawziyah’s family as they go through the horrendous process of hearing evidence and her family and friends as they live with the aftermath, it’s a series that will make you shout in anger and weep in grief for a life lost through a coercively controlling domestic abuse relationship,” reads the official synopsis.

The series also explores how Javed was able to condemn her killer from beyond the grave, as the lawyer had carefully collated evidence in the months leading up to her murder, from secretly recording phone calls of Anwar threatening her to filing two police reports about his abusive behaviour.

What are people saying about The Push: Murder On The Cliff?

“I was approached by [Bafta-winning filmmaker] Anna Hall, who directed the documentary. about two years ago,” says Yasmin Javed, Fawziyah’s mother, in an interview with Edinburgh News.

“My head was all over the place. But they said one of the reasons would be to raise awareness for women and obviously I wouldn’t want anybody to go through this living hell we’re going through. I said if this can help save lives that’s got to be a good thing.”

Hall, meanwhile, has released a statement of her own about the project, which reads: “It’s been such a privilege to see the process of justice played out minute by minute at Edinburgh high court and it’s been an utter privilege to work with Fawziyah’s large and loving family who are destroyed by what has happened to her.

“I find myself making another film about a woman who was on the verge of leaving an abusive relationship – the most dangerous time for any woman – and I want to weep. How many more women will be killed at the hands of their abusive partners? But I know we will all learn so many vitally important things which helped to convict her abuser.”

When and where can we watch The Push: Murder On The Cliff?

The Push: Murder On The Cliff will air via Channel 4 on Sunday 3 March and Monday 4 March at 9pm.

Images: Channel 4

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