ITV gave a 'distressing' warning to millions of viewers seconds before the start of The Hunt for Raoul Moat on Sunday night.
It was at the start of July 2010 that Moat, just days after his release from Durham prison and being led to believe by ex Samantha Stobbart that her new boyfriend Christopher Brown was a police officer, that Moat, 37, headed to Samantha's house in Birtley and shot dead Christopher, before also firing at Samantha, leaving her hospitalised with her injuries.
Moat then blinded PC David Rathband with a bullet, as the police officer sat in a patrol car on the outskirts of Newcastle, before heading to Northumberland, with the help of two accomplices. After nearly a week on the run and a huge police search operation, Moat faced off against police for a final time, in a tense stand-off in Rothbury, which ended when he turned his gun on himself.
READ MORE: Is ITV's Hunt for Raoul Moat all true? Name change, ex's desperate lie and Gazza absence
ITV confirmed last year that The Hunt for Raoul Moat was in production, with the company responsible for bringing it to screen, the same people behind hit dramas Bodyguard, Vigil and Line of Duty.
After weeks of a trailer airing on heavy rotation on ITV, the three part drama started at 9pm on Sunday night and moments before it started, a warning went out, with the announcer saying: "With strong language and distressing scenes of violence, brand new drama based on real life events here on ITV1 in case that shocked the nation - The Hunt for Raoul Moat."
Viewers were quick to react to The Hunt for Raoul Moat. on Twitter, with one posting: "Watching the ITV thing about Raoul Moat & I always feel guilty about watching these things as it's recent & people still living with the trauma of it," with another tweeting: "Raoul moat hunt on itv. this was the maddest mad hunt i can remember in the uk."
*Sign up to get the latest TV and showbiz news straight to your inbox with the Chronicle TV and celebs newsletter. If you can't see the form below, click HERE
READ NEXT:
