@Winniewonka
I gave up on it, I thought it was going to be like the recent true crime dramas on ITV such as White House Farm or Des but I found it a bit grubby and salacious, maybe I just wasn't in the mood but the scene where she looked up and waves at the little boy on the mezzanine who is presumably meant to be Rachel Nickell's son, I just thought nope it's too much artistic licence even for Channel 4.
Agreed, this was really poor for a true crime drama. I don't feel like they conveyed much relevant interesting information at all, such as what the law actually was (there was a throwaway line of 'this has been approved by our lawyers'), what specific strategies were and weren't allowed - presumably even in the early 90s there would've been a strong warning not to overtly manipulate in the way she/they did?? based on what the CPS would and wouldn't allow as evidence? - and all the very pertinent questions that weren't answered until the last minute or left hanging for dramatic reasons - like the hand position being wrong etc, what his story was for knowing about it, or even if they had any evidence he'd shown the hand positions other than the police's account (photos?)
So vague on anything actually distinctive about the case, lots of vague references to 'what you're expected to do' never explicitly outlined, I don't even know if the UCO genuinely believed he did it after seeing the other case and before going to court? Far too much focus on making her psychological torment dramatic and tv-friendly.
Compared with the Martin Freeman one, "A Confession", that was about changes in the law - and conveyed what the decisions and issues were very well throughout - this came up very short and was over-long and under-informative.
Then the bits at the end about the professor etc disagreeing with what he'd supposedly said.
It was good at showing how hinging a massive investigation onto one (self-appointed?) expert with no critical eye or questioning is a big mistake.
And if you stick to the end it again showed that police cock-ups and ignoring the gravity of sexual assault etc yet again ends in women and children being killed. Unbelievable that this is still happening 30 years on.