The Moorside

[NancyDonahue]

BBC dramatisation based on the kidnapping of Shannon Matthews. Starts Tuesday 7th February 9pm, starring Sheridan Smith.

Obviously a horrendous crime against a young child so I wasn't sure I'd want to watch, but it looks like it focuses on friends of the mother who headed up the search and barely features the child herself.

I love Sheridan Smith too so will give it a go.

I found the interview in the car hard to believe but it did happen.
I think the liaison officer did it this way because Karen would have clammed up in a more formal interview setting, she'd have been on her guard.
The presence of her two friends made it look like an informal chat.

Watched both episodes back to back last night.

I thought the acting was superb.

Craig's family were odd. Like really odd. They seemed to want to take over in Karen's house. I found them to be very unlikable people.

And Craig himself was just horrendous. Sat on the computer endlessly, and then the ridiculous overdose on fucking calpol.

I thought Julie had guts to stand up and defend Karen (rightly or wrongly) and say that while she was a liar, she was also naive and a victim of life's circumstances.

I loved Natalie, she was clearly the one willing to stick her neck out and go against everyone when she thought something was wrong. Good for her.

I really enjoyed watching this, not sure how I feel about Karen now. She is clearly damaged but also very manipulative and obviously had the intention to try to gain money without the mental ability to think through the consequences of what was a very flawed plan.

Ultimately I'm glad Shannon and her siblings are all now living with new families and hopefully having a decent life.

KingJoffrey

The Telegraph published the transcript of part of the actual 999 call:
OPERATOR: Police, emergency.

MRS MATTHEWS: Hiya, I want to report my daughter as missing, please.

OPERATOR: Right. How old is she?

MRS MATTHEWS: Nine.

OPERATOR: Nine?

MRS MATTHEWS: Yes.

OPERATOR: When did you last see her?

MRS MATTHEWS: She went to school this morning.

OPERATOR: Right. Have there been any arguments, or anything...

MRS MATTHEWS: No, none at all.

OPERATOR: No. Have you been in touch with any of her friends or anybody like that?

MRS MATTHEWS: I've been everywhere I can think of friends-wise and family and everything.

OPERATOR: And nobody at all has any information about where she can be? Does she go to school and come back on her own normally then?

MRS MATTHEWS: Yes.

OPERATOR: Right. So. You expected her home what, at 4 o'clock?

MRS MATTHEWS: About half-past-three at the latest...(inaudible)...

OPERATOR: Does she have a mobile phone or anything like that?

MRS MATTHEWS: No. It's at home.

OPERATOR: So there's no way to ring to find out...

MRS MATTHEWS: No

OPERATOR: But you've rung round her friends and you've been in touch with all her relatives and there's nowhere else that you've got left to look?

MRS MATTHEWS: No

OPERATOR: Have you been in touch with the school. Can they confirm whether they've been...

MRS MATTHEWS: She left school at the normal time at ten-past-three.

OPERATOR: Right. What do they call her?

MRS MATTHEWS: Shannon Matthews

OPERATOR: Has she been missing before.

MRS MATTHEWS: No. It's the first time.

It was the tone of the 999 dispatcher rather than the words.

She kind of had a resigned, 'oh, another time waster,' vibe about her voice. Whenever I call (work with the elderly - make a lot of 999 calls) they seem more engaged with the call.

Maybe it was an accent thing?

And agree with above, if someone asked me, "What do they call her?" I wouldn't know what they meant

I'm from Yorkshire and it just means 'what's her name?'. It didn't even stand out as an odd thing to say to me, we use it all the time. Nothing to do with nicknames or any other names she might go by anything like that.

I don't think the tone was anything but steady and factual I watch these 999 programmes the tone is always similar I dont think the operator sounded dismissive

Hearing something and engaging and listening is different imo. The what do they call her is regional. Round here sometimes people will say what did x call the baby, just means what is their name

Not sure why some on this thread are obsessed with the phase 'what do they call her' and also the view that because the call was from a dodgy estate somehow it was a waste of time.

The thing is it was a waste of time searching for a girl that the caller knew all along where they were.

Karen should hang her head in shame but she is still playing the victim, someone made her do it, it wasn't my fault and so it goes on. Karen Matthews cost the UK £millions. She will never contribute to society in any way, she will never get a job. But she will be looking over her shoulder every day and tbh - that is how it should be

I'm not sure whether the acting was good or not. The characters are all rather dislikeable and there are still so many questions about motives and how much was known, so it might be trying to portray that that makes the acting a bit odd.

It certainly didn't give clarity to what happened. And it's a shame that the uncle wasn't covered in any detail, he was just a shadowy figure that didn't seem important in the plot, whereas in reality he kept that little girl tied up and drugged for so long. Awful and completely inexcusable.

I wish they'd shown the police questioning Karen more directly, trying to get some kind of response from her about her child. How did she react when they confronted her with Shannons experience? At no point was there an attempt to get through to Karen that her daughters suffering... I think seeing her reaction to that would help understand a bit more.

I guess throughout the two programmes it was more about absence of interaction with any of her children, and no one calling her on that or attempting to dig deeper into that. Surely there must have been moments of interaction that either didn't feel right, or showed she had some attachment to them or... something???

I can't tell what's going on with that blanking out of any of the children, except Julie's kids when they complain their mum is not looking after them as she's so focused on Shannon and Karen.

And how much of this has come from the director, who seems to regard Shannon and her siblings as completely unnecessary and unimportant to the story.

Funny you should say that Hilli hasn't Mr Mehan just been attacked?
Another few bob to spend resettling him now.

And it's a shame that the uncle wasn't covered in any detail, he was just a shadowy figure that didn't seem important in the plot, whereas in reality he kept that little girl tied up and drugged for so long.

I think the official explanation for that will be that the programme was supposedly based on the community and how they reacted. Real explanation is that the only people chomping at the bit willing to talk to the production crew were people who didn't know him.

Really the whole programme has massive holes because of where they were getting the story from. Julie bushby only witnessed so much. The rest they had to make up or leave out.

KingJoffrey, I just listened to an edited version of the original call and the tone in the programme was pretty damn close.

www.theguardian.com/uk/audio/2008/mar/05/shannon.matthews.999.call

I was watching a documentary on you tube earlier they spoke to think it was the one shown on the CI channel anyway a local reporter was on it and a few of the thi gs said on moorside by other characters was actually said by him.

Fanny, I really cannot get worried about Craig being attacked. You reap what you sow I guess.

Did Karen want to leave Craig for the Uncle? That estate in general I feel did represent an underclass of people with their various partners, kids having kids, drinking culture and a reluctance to work. There was a lot of 'we look after our own' which I have to say was one of the most annoying phases. They were almost like rent a mob.

There are women like Karen with no aspirations, who repeat the actions of her own family time and time again. I don't know what the answer is tbh but I would like to have people take a sense of personal responsibility for their actions. Something that was definitely lacking in Karen who saw herself as a victim. Some would call her vunerable. Yet she committed the most awful crime and now has messed up the lives of others.

Do I think she will have yet another child and expect the state to support her in her choices for the rest of her life. Yes, I do....

I know that Karen and Craig were slow and probably had learning difficulties but so what...

Craig was potentially abusing Karen's children and Karen was clearly overwhelmed with 7 kids and took to drugging them to keep them quiet.

So sad and both she and Craig have destroyed lives..

I am not sure there was anyone else involved. Some claim they were not intelligent enough to make this up. That is true but they were caught quite quickly as the police had suspicions from the start so I am thinking maybe it was just them. Karen only thought about herself though throughout all of this.

Brilliant acting from the main people, but to be honest I'm just as confused by the situation as I was before I watched it.

The learning difficulties were overdone slightly she was much more tuned in irl, im again the British public just cannot fathom how council estate scum got the better of us all....hmmm

I might be getting the wrong end of the stick here but how could Karen be charges with kidnap when she didn't kidnap anyone? She told Shannon that Mick was going to pick her up. So yes she would be guilty of putting her in a harmful position or whatever they called it and interfering with a police enquiry as she didn't tell the truth but she didn't actually kidnap her did she?

Because she planned it!

What I don't understand is that surely planning to kidnap someone takes a bit of planning - wouldn't there be either texts or calls to Craig's uncle on one of their phones? Or if he had been round a lot, wouldn't the neighbours have known?

So if I plan a burglary but get someone else to do it I can be convicted of burglary? Sorry I'm not trying to be awkward or defending her I just don't understand. Are you not an accessory rather then the perpetrator?

Karen should hang her head in shame but she is still playing the victim, someone made her do it, it wasn't my fault and so it goes on. Karen Matthews cost the UK £millions. She will never contribute to society in any way, she will never get a job. But she will be looking over her shoulder every day and tbh - that is how it should be

Really? Why should she be looking over her shoulder? What has she got coming to her, in your opinion?

Can someone who has been abused and neglected since birth be capable of the same capacity for decision-making as those of us who are more privileged? Do you have the same lack of compassion and understanding for the now adult Shannon?

So if I plan a burglary but get someone else to do it I can be convicted of burglary? Sorry I'm not trying to be awkward or defending her I just don't understand. Are you not an accessory rather then the perpetrator?

I don't know about burglary but I definitely remember a murder case being convicted in this way. I think it was a husband who hired someone to kill his wife. Although now I think of it it might not have been in the U.K.