David Baddiel's new Channel 4 psychological thriller, Hunting Alice Bell, draws on the real experiences of women who were wrongly identified as Maxine Carr, the former girlfriend of murderer Ian Huntley. The six-part series begins tonight, November 11, and follows a wife and mother whose life unravels when she is accused of being a serial killer's accomplice living under a new identity. Although the central characters are fictional, the drama is rooted in real incidents involving women with no connection to Carr.
Fictional plot, real-life inspiration
Alex Roach plays Fran Da Silva, who finds herself accused of being Alice Bell, the partner of serial killer Dr Jason Nash, played by Simon Pegg. Alice fabricated evidence that allowed Nash's murder spree to continue. As Fran tries to understand why she has been targeted, she discovers other women are facing the same accusation.
Alice Bell and Jason Nash are fictional, but Baddiel has revealed that the idea came from a documentary called Being Maxine Carr. Carr, the former girlfriend of murderer Ian Huntley, was imprisoned for providing him with a false alibi.
Social media as a 'turbocharge'
Speaking to Channel 4 ahead of the series' debut, Baddiel 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."
He added: "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."
Asked why he chose to turn the subject into a fictional drama rather than another documentary, Baddiel said: "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 But it's also out of date because there was no social media in it."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."
Further research and gendered notoriety
Baddiel explained that, although there are real examples of this targeting, no single case captures the whole picture. He said: "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 led him to examine the Lucy Letby case, which became "an important point of reference". He also referenced Myra Hindley, one of the Moors murderers alongside her boyfriend Ian Brady.
Baddiel said: "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."
Roach also watched a documentary as part of her preparation to play Fran. 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.
