Channel 4's new psychological thriller Hunting Alice Bell, starring Ralf Little, Simon Pegg, and Alexandra Roach, begins airing tonight, November 11. The six-episode series, filmed in County Wicklow, Ireland, follows the former lover of an anaesthetist serial killer who lives in the UK under a new identity.
Plot and Cast
The show's synopsis explains that Alice Bell is a former nurse and accomplice of a notorious serial killer. When an innocent Fran Da Silva is accused online of being Alice Bell, her life implodes in a wave of mob hate. She then discovers she is not the only woman to experience the same thing.
Ralf Little, known for his role in Death in Paradise as Detective Inspector Neville Parker, joins the series as the character Graham. The star-studded cast includes Simon Pegg as Jason and Alexandra Roach as Fran.
Fan Reaction and Trailer
Little shared the trailer for his latest project on Instagram, and fans were thrilled to see him in a new project. One fan commented: "This looks great.. can’t wait to watch." Another added: "Can’t wait for this!"
The trailer shows Fran's haters threatening, "we are going to make her pay", as her family pays the price. She pleads her innocence, but her cries fall on deaf ears. The teaser also reveals that five women have been accused of being Alice Bell.
True Crime Inspiration
Writer David Baddiel opened up about the dark true crime inspiration behind his new show, telling Cosmopolitan the idea came from a documentary about a number of women misidentified as Maxine Carr, the former girlfriend of murderer Ian Huntley, who was imprisoned for providing Huntley with a false alibi.
He explained: "Women [were] being targeted in their local communities by people who decided that they were Maxine Carr, when Carr was first allowed out. There were literally people whispering, ‘that woman is Maxine’. And then next they did have mobs in their garden. In one case, the local paper actually printed an article saying ‘Maxine Carr living amongst us’."
In a separate interview with Channel 4, he described the series as a psychological thriller, "with more emphasis on the psychological than you get in a lot of thrillers". He added: "There’s a sense of dread, uncertainty and mystery, rather than guns and police procedure. It’s about how we live now, when people can create rumours, myths, lies and identities for others that don’t feel as if they belong to them."
Further detailing the original inspiration, he added: "After Maxine Carr was released, she was given lifelong anonymity. But women with no connection to her were being targeted in small towns by people who were certain they were her, living under another name."
"There were four women in the documentary, and a couple of scenes in the show are based on what I saw. In one, a woman has just moved to a new area when rumours start. Within a couple of weeks, there’s a mob in her garden, shouting at her. She comes out with her passport to prove who she is; that stayed with me."
As the women band together to protect themselves, they vow to trust one another, but the question remains whether the serial killer’s accomplice is hiding in plain sight. Hunting Alice Bell airs on Channel 4 from November 11.
