The parents of Madeleine McCann have said they are “disappointed” they were not consulted or asked for consent during the production of a new true crime drama about their daughter’s disappearance.
Channel 5’s Under Suspicion: Kate McCann depicts Madeleine’s mother being treated as a suspect during the investigation into her disappearance in May 2007. Kate and Gerry McCann said they “had no involvement whatsoever” in the creation of the show.
The drama aired on Wednesday, starring Slow Horses actress Laura Bayston in the lead role of Kate McCann.
Kate and Gerry released a statement the same day in which they voiced their concerns over the “negative impact” such programmes have on their family as they continue to grieve Madeleine’s disappearance 19 years on.
“Thank you to everyone who has offered support & kindness this month,” they wrote on the Find Madeleine Campaign website. “May is never the easiest. We usually start to feel a bit ‘lighter’ at this stage of the month. We are disappointed however, knowing that a Channel 5 ‘docu-drama’ will air tonight.
“We have not given, or been asked for, our consent and have had no involvement whatsoever in its making. We fail to see how it will help.
“Programmes like this, always have a negative impact on our family.”
The statement, which was also posted on the official Find Madeleine Campaign Facebook page, was signed “Kate, Gerry & Family”.
Madeleine McCann went missing from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal on May 3 2007, shortly before her fourth birthday. Portuguese police made Kate and her husband Gerry suspects in Madeleine’s disappearance for 10 months, between September 2007 and July 2008.
The new show dramatises Kate’s interrogation by officers and is based on official police material, documentary evidence and recorded testimony. The 90-minute film is written by award-winning screenwriter and playwright Philip Ralph, and directed by Paula Wittig, who previously directed Black Widow.
The Mirror has approached Channel 5 for comment.
