Rent See No Evil: The Moors Murders (2006)

The effect on families - See No Evil: The Moors Murders review by LN

2 episodes. Most British people know who the 2 Moors Murderers were, the iconic mugshot of Myra with the bleached hair still impresses and horrifies. It tends to overshadow Brady's part in it as somehow the horror of a woman participating in what turned out to be some unutterably heinous atrocities to young children, sickened both the police and the public.

Maxine Peake takes on the mantle of Myra and she does it with the right amount of normalcy that subtly morphs to sinister. Friendly family get-togethers in the cosy living room hid the fact that H&B had already murdered one, then 2, then 3 children and buried their bodies on the moors yet she acted cool as a cucumber. What I'd never appreciated from that was Myra had a perfectly normal family (well, duh most people do) but in these situations they tend to get glossed over as the horrors unfold even though the fallout for them due to their murderous relatives causes major shame and rifts in their own lives.

Really this film studies the effect that Hindley and Brady's actions had on them (her mother, her sister and her sister's husband) as well as the child victims' families, and that just made it gripping. Brady played by Sean Harris (not a face I think I've seen before) is from first sight a villain. Joanne Froggatt as Maureen and Michael McNulty as husband Dave play their parts perfectly.

It is of note that Myra initially staunchly denied any involvement and Brady had subtly tried to incriminate poor Dave, so it wasn't until the police uncovered tapes & photos that she was charged with involvement. The only remorse she ever appeared to show was when her dog died, never a scrap apparently for the victims and she would never reveal the whereabouts of 2 of the remaining victims before she died in 2002. Sadly for his family they still have never found Keith Bennett's body.

George Costigan and John Henshaw play the high up policemen. This is a great period piece plus atmospheric production with the script based on hours of research and interviews, as it says, with police, family and victims families.

Enjoyed this (if you can say the subject matter is enjoyable) so highly recommended.