Channel 4's new six-part psychological thriller Hunting Alice Bell follows a wife and mother whose ordinary life unravels when strangers become convinced she is a serial killer's accomplice. While the characters are fictional, the mistaken identities that inspired the show happened to real women.
Premiering tonight, November 11, the series explores how rumours can turn innocent people into targets. Writer and comedian David Baddiel drew on a documentary about women wrongly identified as serial killer's girlfriend Maxine Carr, recalling scenes that "stayed with" him.
A story of mistaken identity
Combining a whodunnit with elements of family drama, the series weaves a tale "about misogyny, justice, the psychosis of the mob, and about how rumours spread and the devastating effects they cause". Fran Da Silva (portrayed by Alex Roach) finds her unremarkable existence shattered when she is accused of being Alice Bell - a serial killer's lover and the most reviled woman in Britain, allegedly living under an assumed identity.
Alice Bell was the partner of serial killer Dr Jason Nash (Simon Pegg), having fabricated evidence that allowed his murderous rampage to continue unchecked. Bewildered as to why she has become a target, Fran soon discovers she is far from the only woman to have faced such accusations.
Inspiration from a documentary
While Alice Bell and Jason Nash are fictional characters, the programme's concept draws from genuine disturbing incidents, as writer Baddiel reveals, reports the Mirror. In conversation with Channel 4 prior to the show's debut, Baddiel cited a documentary titled Being Maxine Carr as his inspiration. Carr, the ex-partner of killer Ian Huntley, was jailed for giving him a fabricated alibi.
He explained: "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 over documentary
When questioned about his decision to adapt the story into fictional drama rather than another documentary, he responded: "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."
He continued: "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 noted that while real-life examples of this exist, no single case tells the whole story, 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 exploration of the topic led him to examine the case of Lucy Letby, who became "an important point of reference". He also referenced Myra Hindley, one of the Moors murderers alongside her boyfriend Ian Brady.
Baddiel revealed: "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 spoke candidly about her own preparations ahead of portraying Fran, which "fascinated" her, as she elaborated: "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.
