On Sunday night, ITV will launch its much talked about new series The Hunt for Raoul Moat, but unlike many of the channel's dramas, what happens in it is very much based on the truth.
The Hunt for Raoul Moat stars Bodyguard actor Matt Stokoe as the killer, with Inspector George Gently favourite Lee Ingelby playing Chief Superintendent Neil Adamson, the cop at the forefront of the huge search to track down Moat and former Vera actress Sonya Cassidy as Chronicle journalist Diane Barnwell, the crime reporter who followed the unfolding events from start to finish.
The three part drama will air close to 13 years after the real life case made headlines across the country. It was on July 3, 2010, just days after being released from prison, that 37-year-old Moat headed to his ex girlfriend Samantha Stobbart's house in Birtley, shooting dead her new boyfriend Christopher Brown and leaving Samantha in hospital after firing at her as well.
READ MORE: Emmerdale star makes ITV return for 'dark' role in Raoul Moat drama
Moat's shooting spree didn't end there. A day later, having vowed to take revenge on the police and having incorrectly being made to believe, by Samantha, that Christopher was an officer, Moat shot and blinded PC David Rathband, as he sat on duty in a patrol car on the outskirts of Newcastle. PC Rathband tragically killed himself two years later, having struggling to come to terms with his life changing injuries.
After the shootings and, aided by to accomplices, Moat headed up the road to Northumberland, setting up camp in the quiet village of Rothbury and managing to escape detection for a number of days, before events reached a fraught climax on July 10, a week after Moat killed Chris Brown; when the killer, having made threats against the wider public, came face to face with police in a tense stand-off.
After hours of failed negotiations, Most ended the stand-off by shooting himself and dying from his injuries, after the final hours of the man hunt took a bizarre turn when footballer Paul Gascoigne turned up at the scene, convinced he could talk Moat round and armed with a fishing rod, lager and a cooked chicken.
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