Anyone watching 'Maxine' on Channel 5?

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I watched the first one last night - wondered what people thought. The acting seems a bit over the top; if Ian and Maxine had behaved that suspiciously in real life, I would have thought they'd have been arrested immediately.

Didn't she suffer from obsessive behaviour?

@Begoniasforever thank you. Excellently put. I really don't understand some people.

Yea I'm watching slowly, in an almost therapy like way.

I was 16, saving for uni, my now DH was on a summer baling contract. I went down and worked in the sort of motel, truckers lodge place they were staying in.

I remember the moment the news broke, we were about ten miles away, grown men in tears.

I have never forgotten how we searched and searched, all of us.

To this day I think of that time and what we saw.

My parents, in very rural Scotland, were sympathetic and upset but happy for me to stay and help. But also talk of it, both now with advanced dementia.

I have a Holly as a middle name to my second, Christmas born baby. My grandmother was Ivy. I still feel funny when I meet siblings Holly and Jessica.

Anyway, will keep watching slowly, but feeling strange

Because she knew the girls had been inside.

Did she stick by him I can’t remember what happened regarding that? I remember them being interviewed on the news and thinking at that point that he might have something to do with it, then it was very soon after that they were arrested

I'm watching. I remember watching it live on rolling news when IH was interviewed outside his house. What I'm confused about is does Maxine know he has killed the girls or is she just giving him an alibi because hes scared of being fitted up? Obviously what's being shown between the 2 of them is speculation although we do know she cleaned the house and noticed he had washing in the machine. This is such and evil wicked crime there is no doubt. I'm watching on the angle of when the police etc suspected him. I think the news reporters interviewed him outside his house as a way to see his reaction. Also did same with maxine.

Totally agree. She was stupid and a liar. However the fact remains she had nothing to do with the murders of Holly and Jessica.

i can’t quite remember but didn’t he refer to the girls in the past tense and it was before the point there bodies had been found so no one knew for sure they were dead then?

I'm watching it. So far the focus is very much on her and her relationship with him.

Apart from the subject matter, what has struck me is that mobile phones just weren't a common or garden feature of our lives back then.

It was another world, wasn’t it? Strange to be transported back. Sportswear and brick Nokias, David beckham and pre DBS checks. I know it was 2002 but very reminiscent of late 1990s.

I don't understand how the girls had their own mobiles but the reporters were using a phone box.

The families are very much still alive and in the area - I live a few miles from Soham and often see Kevin Wells in our village as he runs a local business.

When listening to a true crime podcast a while back, ex-Scotland Yard criminal behaviour analyst Laura Richards said that one of the main reasons the police started focussing on Huntley was because a female officer was insistent that something was “off” about him. Her superiors listened to her and started looking at him more closely. She, Laura, was using it as an example of profiling criminal behaviour and what sort of signs to look for when deciding if someone should/should not be considered a suspect.

I'm watching it the guy playing Ian Huntley is a Scottish actor Scott Reid and did a comedy series here so he's confusing me ! The acting isn't great but it's "interesting " seeing what they might have been like.

the girls didn’t. Jessica had a mobile which had belonged to one of her older sisters and the screen had cracked, so she was allowed to have it.

For a lack of a better word I’m ‘enjoying’ it
i think it’s been well done,but on the flip side,it’s a program that shouldn’t have been made (i wonder what the families had to say about it-if that had been my dd,I wouldn’t have been happy about it)
I think she was blinded by her love for him-and she went much,much further than most people would have gone-I wouldn’t lie for my dp no matter how innocent I thought her was
its well known he was a dangerous,evil man who controlled her and she should have gone to the police-all she had to do is turn round,into the arms of any number of police-it’s not like she had to run away-the police where all around her
but she didn’t-she tried to protect him at any cost,hoping they’d go away

i remember it unfolding (I had two dc and a newborn) and praying they’d find them alive
then a member of the public thought they heard screaming but they put it down to badgers
Then they found them-I’d been at stay and play that day and walked in to the news they had been found dead and he’d been arrested-along with her
my dad had said the chances of finding them alive where slim to none but you hang on to ‘just maybe they will be found alive’

i think she should have got a longer sentence but on the other hand she didn’t kill them-she covered up for him

i think she’s evil,was blinded by love and he controlled her every move-but she still had a mind of her own and long enough (10 days?) to change her mind and ‘grass him up’

I think she was deluded and obsessed by him and I think she might have believed him. I'm never sure about these true life dramas If the families are informed.

I don't feel 1 bit sorry for her though.

I would usually watch anything true crime.. drama or documentary. However this feels too soon and like a previous poster wrong to be entertained by it.

I'm watching now would they really let then go to a hotel together

They were both toxic people. He had previous, she gave him alibis for other accusations. Maybe she was obsessed by him, he is being portrayed as violent and controlling. I hate the way he's coming across as all needy and woe is me type and she's perpetuating that with her actions. Maxine chose to cover up this abhorrent crime of his. She chose to stand by her man. She helped clean the house. She also seemed to love the attention. She is disgusting in my opinion. My brother was murdered 16 years ago, I feel the same about the family of the man that killed him, they backed him up. How can you cover for a killer especially a child killer, kids that she knew (not that should make a difference) I would do most things for my DH but I would never cover for anything like this.

It's a interesting take focusing on IH and Maxine, I wonder what a psychologist would make of their relationship.

I remember the case so well. My DD was also 10 at the time. We were supposed to be going very close to Soham to pick up a pony on the Saturday they did the reconstruction and road blocks.

The ponys owners delayed the sale as their child had a confidence crisis and wanted one last Pony Club Camp on him. I remember thinking how glad I was we wouldn't be waiting in the hot weather in road blocks with a pony in the trailer, then felt so guilty because my girl was safe and well whilst Holly and Jessica were still missing 😢

I have watched and I am not sure how I feel about it.

I will never forget looking up from the ironing that Monday morning and seeing a friend of DD's face starting at me from the TV. I remember DD seeing the news and hearing that one theory was that the girls had run away, DD said me that Jess would never have done that as she was scared of the dark. We were on holiday when the news came through that they'd found them and I remember having to break the news to my two.

It’s hard to comprehend but it’s harder to accept she didn’t at least suspect and strongly, When he was awaiting trial sh was writing him letters begging him to marry her. At that point she knew because We all did. The program seems to be portraying her as in control and enjoying it, enjoying the attention.

im not sure on if she’s had a child. It appears to be false news. The reality was she had a troubled up bringing, suffered anorexia, and had many issues.

she’s not the first though to stand by her heinous man. I watched a program about an interview with a woman who defended the man who killed her Own child and tried to lie and cover it up. You see it a lot. Women with paedophiles. Murderers, child abusers, and they stay with them,you seldom see it with the genders reversed.

she is who she is, she needs to live with that and what she did.

And yet here you are clicking on a thread about it.

people are interested, they don’t understand it, this isn’t about Huntley and the murders, it’s about Carr and her abhorrent behaviour. Tv can be informative, thought provoking, it doesn’t need to all be ant and dec.

@Begoniasforever

I was interested to know if anyone else shared my views. My impression was it was a drama rather than a documentary, and therefore more 'entertainment' than 'information'

Was I wrong?

At the time I thought she came across as very immature and trusting of Huntley and somewhat under his spell. I didn't think the programme was very good.