Channel 4's new six-part psychological thriller Hunting Alice Bell, which starts tonight, November 11, is inspired by real events that "stayed with" writer David Baddiel. The series follows a wife and mother whose identity is mistaken for that of a serial killer's accomplice.
The show is built around a whodunnit with shades of family drama, telling a story "about misogyny, justice, the psychosis of the mob, and about how rumours spread and the devastating effects they cause". Fran Da Silva, played by Alex Roach, has her ordinary life turned upside down when she is accused of being Alice Bell, a serial killer's lover and Britain's most hated woman hiding under a new identity.
Alice Bell was the lover of serial killer Dr Jason Nash, played by Simon Pegg, and she falsified evidence, ultimately letting his killing streak continue. Fran cannot understand why she has become a target, but she quickly learns that she is not alone and there are other women who have been accused of the same thing.
Is Hunting Alice Bell a True Story?
While Alice Bell and Jason Nash are not real people, the show's premise was inspired by a real series of harrowing events. Baddiel explained that the inspiration was a documentary called Being Maxine Carr, with Carr being the former girlfriend of murderer Ian Huntley, who was imprisoned for providing Huntley with a false alibi.
He shared: "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."
Why Fiction Instead of Another Documentary
When asked why he chose to turn the story into a fictional drama and not another documentary, Baddiel added: "The documentary had already been made, and it's quite chilling in itself. But it's also out of date because there was no social media in it."
"As I worked on the idea, I realised how much social media could turbocharge this story. It's an enormous rumour-mongering and targeting machine. When a troll decides to target someone, they can build a huge crowd around them online, which can then spill into the real world."
He said while there are real examples of this, no single story paints the entire picture, adding: "I had the idea of women being mistaken for an evil figure and working together to fight the rumours. Social media became the motor driving that targeting, and that led to the drama we have now."
Further Research and Real-Life References
Further research into the subject led Baddiel to explore the case of Lucy Letby, who became "an important point of reference". He also referred to Myra Hindley, one of the Moors murderers alongside her boyfriend Ian Brady.
Baddiel shared: "I've long been interested in how certain women become these super-evil figures in our culture. Myra Hindley and Maxine Carr, for example, can become more notorious than the men they're associated with. I think there's something gendered in that."
Actress Alex Roach opened up on her own research ahead of playing Fran, which "fascinated" her, as she explained: "I was sent a documentary about women whose identities had been mistaken, and it really shone a light on the effect that can have on people: on their lives, their jobs and the way they move through the world. I was fascinated by women whose lives had changed overnight, and how they dealt with it. That gave me a way into Fran."
Hunting Alice Bell airs on Channel 4 from November 11 at 9pm.
