The Stage

ITV to screen Hindley and Brady drama

Published Tuesday 9 August 2005 at 13:15 by Liz Thomas

ITV is to broadcast a drama based on the story of Moors Murderers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.

The programme, which is being made by Granada, will mark the 40th anniversary of the pair’s trial and is based on two years of research, including interviews with retired detectives and relatives of the murdered children. It also draws on information given by Hindley’s brother-in-law, David Smith, who was a key witness at the trial.

Written by Neil McKay, who has worked on factual dramas such as This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper and Planespotting, ITV has promised the drama will be a sober and unsensational account of how the couple were brought to justice. He said: “The focus is not only on their crimes but also on the effects of those crimes on the families of the victims and on Hindley’s sister Maureen.”

ITV said that relatives of the children killed by Brady and Hindley have been fully consulted about the production and have given their support to the drama. The killings began in July 1963 with the murder of teenager Pauline Reade and came to an end in 1965 when Smith witnessed the murder of Edward Evans and went to the police with Hindley’s sister.

Granada’s factual drama department has a history of tackling difficult subjects. Previous productions include Bloody Sunday, Hillsborough and The Murder of Stephen Lawrence.

McKay adds: “Drama gives you the ability to get inside the experience in a way that a straight documentary just can’t. The audience can assemble a view of things at the time - a view of what it might have actually been like that is just not possible if it is handled any other way.”

Programmes combining drama and documentary have become increasingly popular with broadcasters in the past year. The BBC has aired shows such as Space Odyssey, Dirty War and Supervolcano using this format and ITV has commissioned a drama entitled The Flood, which will look at the repercussions of a meteorological disaster hitting London.