Channel 5 drama Maxine, which tells the story of the girlfriend of child murderer Ian Huntley, has been heavily criticised by viewers.
Maxine Carr was in a relationship with Huntley, the school caretaker who, in 2002, lured 10-year-old girls Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman to his house and murdered them.
Episode one of the show, which aired last night (10 October), saw Maxine, played by Jemma Carlton, move to Soham for a fresh start with her boyfriend Ian, portrayed by Scott Reid. After a jealous argument with Ian, Maxine stays with her mother for the weekend and goes on a night out in her hometown of Grimsby.
She wakes up on the Monday morning to the news of the girls’ disappearance, and returns to Soham to provide her boyfriend with a false alibi.
In real life, Carr was the girls’ teaching assistant.
“Channel 5, if you’re going to turn the horrific deaths of two little girls into a drama, completely ignoring the trauma it will likely cause to the families, then you could at least make it well,” tweeted one viewer. “This is terrible. Poorly acted and attempting to make [Maxine] a victim.”
“Watching a Channel 5 TV drama about Ian Huntley and I must be getting old cos I’m struggling not to find it all in the most absurdly bad taste,” added another.
A third posted: “In case anyone watching Maxine has forgotten the real victims. Two beautiful innocent children who had their whole lives ahead of them. They were murdered by Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr covered for him by providing a false alibi. Maxine is attempting to paint her as a victim.”
A fourth wrote: “Maxine trying really hard to make her out to be a victim here! Fifteen minutes in and I’m finding it all a bit in bad taste.”
Carr was jailed for perverting the course of justice after giving Huntley a false alibi, but released in 2004 with a new identity.
