Viewers have blasted Channel 5’s new drama on the Soham Murders with some calling it “bad taste” for “making Maxine a victim”.
The Channel 5 drama first aired last night, October 10, and is based on Maxine Carr’s part in the Soham murders of Holly Marie Wells and Jessica Aimee Chapman, in 2002.
Channel 5 Soham Murders Drama
In 2002, Maxine Carr – who worked as a teacher’s assistant at the girl’s school – was in a relationship with Ian Huntley, the school caretaker who lured 10-year-old girls Holly and Jessica to his house and murdered them.
The Channel 5 synopsis reads: ‘Revisiting the Soham murders through the eyes of school assistant Maxine Carr.’
The show kicks off by showing Maxine, played by Jemma Carlton, move to Soham for a fresh start with her boyfriend Ian, portrayed by Scott Reid.
After an argument with Ian, Maxine stays with her mother for the weekend and goes on a night out in her hometown of Grimsby. But the next day she wakes up to the news the two girls were missing and makes her way back to Soham and provides her boyfriend with an alibi.
Fans blast show for making Maxine look like a ‘victim’
However, after just one episode fans blasted the show saying it was made in “bad taste”, and many added they didn’t like it making Maxine look like a “victim”.
One person even added they “struggled” to watch it and another said they switched it off.
Soham Murders
The Soham murders were a double child murder committed in Soham, Cambridgeshire, England on 4 August 2002.
The victims were two 10-year-old girls, Holly and Jessica, who were lured into the home of a local resident and school caretaker, Ian, before disposing of their bodies in an irrigation ditch close to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
Ian was provided with an alibi by his girlfriend, the girls’ school assistant, Maxine. However, the girls’ bodies were discovered on 17 August 2002 and eventually, Ian and Maxine were arrested.
Ian was convicted of the murder of both girls on 17 December 2003 and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, with the High Court later imposing a minimum term of 40 years.
Maxine was jailed for perverting the course of justice after giving Huntley a false alibi, but released in 2004 with a new identity.