Manhunt - controversy

[Hellomatey001]

I know some the families of the bereaved did not want this broadcast. I can see why they objected.

I am watching and already there are some really insensitive scenes. The investigating officers wife happy when hearing about a woman's body been found. "That's a promotion case!" she gleefully states. This scene is played out without any irony or self awareness. .

Also there were scenes showing a corpse and focus on her dead arm. That was a real person they are depicting not an episode of Silent Witness. It was unnecessary and gratuitous.

There have been real life crime dramatisations where they have avoided depicting bodies ot showing violent acts because of the highly sensitive nature of the subject matter.

I have worked in television and understand the constant quest for stories but there should also be compassion and basic decorum. I think this programme lacks a bit of both.

@Fairylea - I suppose when they finally showed it, the ex- girlfriend contacted the police. But by then he was the suspect. So if it was shown before, without him being a suspect, she might have contacted them, or might not have thought anything of it.
Anyway thank god he was caught. Let's hope he is never released.

Charley50 he was given whole of life sentences for his crimes, he will never get out.

I don’t doubt that he committed other crimes: he was recently linked to the murder of Lynn and Megan Russell though, I understand, his partner at the time of the crimes came forward to say he had been with her on the day of those murders as it was her birthday.

He confessed to the murder of Lynn and Megan Russell but I don't know if it has been proved.
How on earth does such an awful, evil man and one who looks like he does have so many ex-partners and some who have had children with him. The actress playing his partner in this was exceptionally pretty. It is just very odd.

He is well known for lying to get a reaction. When he confessed to the Milly Dowler murder he said he would only confess to female officers. That says a lot about the kind of person he is. He likes to shock people. Lots of people wonder if half the stuff he’s said he did to Milly Dowler is true. It doesn’t fit at all with the rest of his crimes (where the women were brutally but suddenly attacked and left for dead, he didn’t keep any others of them alive for hours in the way he said he did to Milly).

Personally - and this is just my opinion as someone who has a special interest in criminology - I don’t think he committed the Russell murders. His ex girlfriend says he was with her, she had no reason to lie at that point and every reason to try to incriminate him to keep him in prison. The MO doesn’t fit with him either apart from the fact they were attacked with a hammer. Lin was an older woman with curly brown hair, not his usual sort at all and it was a long way from his usual area of attack.

Plus - with the Russell murders in Josie Russell’s recollection the man got out of the car and said he wanted their money. It was a robbery - none of the other crimes Levi Bellfield has been found guilty of has ever been a robbery. Of course, it’s possible he did it or he did other crimes like that and just hasn’t been caught but you do have to wonder. I think he’s just an evil bastard who enjoys seeing people react.

He very much fits the Ian Brady/Ian Huntley mould of making statements/confessions in order to attempt to keep himself in the limelight.

I think there should be reporting restrictions placed on anyone who gets a whole of life sentence - only official reports from the police/prison service should be allowed to be printed/broadcast.

I have to say that his late "confession" of what happened with Millie Dowler was so upsetting and no doubt designed by him to stick the knife in with her poor family. I was shocked that the press reported it in so much detail. Totally unnecessary. Not news, just grim sensationalism.

I did love Martin Clunes performance although it took me a while to stop thinking of him as Doc Martin!

I watched this on catch up last night.

It was sensitive and very interesting depiction of the reality of a murder investigation.

I’ve just listened to the interview Colin Sutton did on FiveLive today and he says he contacted each family about the book/TV project and nobody had objections. He said for example that Milly Dowler’s family were given all the lines which referenced her and if they had objected to anything they wouldn’t have used it.

Did Colin Sutton's marriage survive the investigation ?
None of my business but I just wondered.

I did love Martin Clunes performance although it took me a while to stop thinking of him as Doc Martin!

It took me a while to stop hearing Kipper!

Wingedharpy

This tweet answers your question, they are still together.

twitter.com/colinsutton/status/1082913596374421504?s=21

And then along comes the third episode and suddenly an unviewed tape somehow solves the case .I can believe it did ,one piece of info leads to another ,but yes ,it felt v rushed .

But it didn't. At that point no-one realistically had any doubt that Bellfield was their man, it was just that they didn't have enough evidence to prosecute. That was essentially the piece of evidence that tipped the case over the line.

I wondered about Sutton's marriage too. I really couldn't understand his wife expecting him not to do the right thing professionally because of how it was affecting her at Surrey police. It's not like they were selling office supplies! His work involved real people's lives. How could she expect him not to pursue avenues that might solve crimes?

I thought the wife came across very badly too. I wonder how much of all that was true.

I thought that too about his wife. Surely catching a murderer was seen as the most important thing.

Didn't like the way they portrayed the wife. Reminded me of the film JFK when Sissey Spacek moans at Kevin Costner for missing Easter Sunday because he's so focused on trying find out who really killed the president.

All about- yeah it was very unsympathetic to her. I wonder how his real wife felt about it?

Yes the wife was very unsympathetically portrayed

I found all the Surrey v Met bits tedious. I wonder if the real police have such chips on their shoulders or if it was added for dramatic purposes.

I bet they do. I know people in the MET and other police forces and there does tend to be an amount of, shall we say, rivalry...

I've bought the book too, on the back of the programme. Within the first few pages it was evident there was a lot of difference between the book and the real life story for dramatisation purposes,.

I watched it and thought it was well done, although agree that the part with the female officer where the unwatched tape appeared seemed very contrived.

Actor playing killer was very good, was hardly on screen but was very believably threatening.

Agree Suttons wife seemed uncaring, I can't imagine being so bothered about my OH not attending my siblings wedding when he's in charge of a major murder case.

I was surprised how in role Martin Clunes was, showing no reminders of previous characters, very believable IMO.

Without spoilers, @ScarletPower, would you recommend the book?

choccyJules

I'm only about 25% of the way into it, but yes I'd recommend it. It goes more indepth into what went on after his arrest so it is very interesting to get the fuller picture but simple enough in layman's terms.

Wicked Beyond Belief is also a brilliant book to read about the Yorkshire Ripper investigation if anyone is interested.