How bleak. Though this “definitive” three-part Netflix series appears to be mostly a cheap-as-chips rehash of a 2001 documentary, (Channel 5’s Fred and Rose: The West Murders), it’s pretty much guaranteed to put bums on sofas. There’s just something about a psychopath. As the credits roll on Fred and Rose West: A British Horror Story, ads start blaring for the fifth season of serial killer series, You. Whether hateful or hot, fictional or real, homicidal maniacs have become the streaming giant’s lifeblood.
We’re meant to be thrilled by “recently discovered” police recordings of rapist, torturer and murderer Fred West, who was taken into custody in 1994. As West’s patio and house in Gloucester are dug up, nine bodies are found (including the body of Fred’s 16-year-old daughter, Heather). Clearly enchanted by all the attention, Fred tells the police how he used a bread knife to dismember his child. The man spews cliches and lies. When not sniggering (re his victims), he simpers (about wife and accomplice, Rose, and the couple’s many offspring). Yes, it’s grimly fascinating to hear him say he promised Rose he’d never “shop” her: “I swore on the kids’ lives!” Let that sink in. You couldn’t invent this dialogue, which laughs in the face of satire. But does it count as news? Not really.
