The executive producer of ITV's new Rasoul Moat drama, is 'defiant' against any criticism levelled at the decision to make the show, saying he and his crew aimed to tell the story 'as respectfully and carefully' as they could, while highlighting 'true facts' of the investigation.
The Hunt for Raoul Moat will arrive on screen on Sunday, April 16; nearly 13 years after killer Moat shot dead former girlfriend Samantha Stobbart new boyfriend Christopher Brown and left his ex in hospital, as she was shot as well.
Moat also blinded PC David Rathband, who took his own life a few years later, before fleeing Newcastle for Northumberland, where we evaded being found for days, before shooting himself to bring to end a tense stand-off with police in Rothbury.
The Hunt for Raoul Moat will dominate primetime proceedings on ITV for three consecutive nights, with a cast including County Durham born actor Matt Stokoe in the lead role. But, before they have even seen any of it, some people have branded it 'bad taste' to turn the tragic events of summer 2010 in a TV drama.
And answering them, the series' executive producer, Jake Lushington, said; "You can’t avoid the fact there are very unpleasant things within this story and bringing them up will remind people of those and of the person involved. But this drama is actually a huge antidote to the quite dangerous cult of personality that built up around Moat. This is a story that unless it gets retold would have a bad legend around it.“
Jake continued: "We aim to tell this story as respectfully and carefully as we can. We inform those involved that we are doing it. We would certainly not have gone into this if we did not feel there was a proper story to be told which would have some social value. And inform an audience in a way they may not have been informed otherwise. As well as getting to the emotional heart of what the story is."
Premempting any backlash over it still being too soon to be making a drama out of what happened in 2010, Jake added: "Again, that’s a very subjective point of view. For some people, something that happened in 1960 is too soon. Who’s the arbiter of that? In this case, there are some dodgy ‘folklore’ perceptions about these events. I think 13 years is enough time to have some distance from it. Although obviously not for the people affected by it. We can’t avoid that But if you left it for far too long a time you are allowing that false understanding of the story to continue.
"An almost cartoon public perception of what took place. So I think this drama has value in highlighting the true facts of what happened and the impact on those involved."
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