Kate and Gerry McCann brand new Shannon Matthews TV drama, The Moorside ‘insensitive’ over scenes featuring Maddie’s disappearance
THE parents of Madeleine McCann have branded last night’s controversial TV drama about the fake kidnap of Shannon Matthews “appalling” and “insensitive”.
As Kate and Gerry McCann face the heartbreaking tenth anniversary of Maddie’s disappearance they criticised the screening of BBC mini series The Moorside, which kept alluding to their ordeal, as being in “poor taste and bad timing”, a close friend revealed.
The show follows the story of nine-year-old Shannon who “vanished” from The Moorside council estate in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in February 2008. The schoolgirl’s own mum Karen Matthews had callously made it all up.
The nine-year-old was found tethered and drugged inside the base of a double bed at the flat of Matthews’ accomplice Michael Donovan 24 days after she disappeared.
Inspired by the huge Maddie police hunt just nine months before, Matthews’ sole purpose was to cash in with a relative by grabbing the reward and any media interview fees.
She was eventually arrested, charged and jailed for eight years. She had been an accomplice in her daughter’s drugging and kidnapping.
Shannon’s shocking “disappearance” after failing to return home from a school swimming trip bore a chilling similarity to that of three-year-old Maddie, who had been snatched from her bed in a holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007.
Maddie’s plight was highlighted at least three times in the well-publicised opening episode. In one scene Matthews’ pal and search co-ordinator Julie Bushby, played by Sheridan Smith, is discussing a candelit vigil after the mum’s TV appeal.
A friend, viewing the papers the next day, said: “It must be working all this, they are offering a reward of £20,000.” Julie’s young son chips in: “They are offering two-and-a-half million pounds for Maddie McCann. Is that because they’re posher than us?” His mum replies: “It’s not a contest.”
In another clip, while discussing how best to launch the media plea with a detective, Matthews tells her: “I’ve got my cuddly bear that you wanted, like Maddie’s mum wants her Cuddle Cat.” The police officer asks: “Is that Shannon’s favourite” and her mum takes a long pause before answering: “Probably!”
Matthews’ appearance before cameras clutching the toy was a near carbon copy of Kate’s genuine pleas to her daughter’s abductor.
Maddie’s favourite soft toy Cuddle Cat had been left lying on her bed when she vanished. In the early days Kate kept the grubby pink animal which she later recalled was dirty and “smelled of suntan lotion” close to her. The grief-stricken mum was photographed carrying the toy everywhere.
During the show’s appeal Matthews shed crocodile tears as she echoed some of Kate’s words, begging: “I need her home. If anyone’s got my beautiful princess, bring her home.”
A source close to Kate and Gerry said: “The whole Shannon Matthews saga only came about because of Madeleine’s disappearance and what the family wrongly thought they could claw through rewards and interviews.
“The BBC have been trailing it for a few weeks. Kate and Gerry think the whole thing is appalling, and in really poor taste and bad timing.
“They may not sit down and watch every minute of these programmes but they are aware of them and references to their family.
“They feel is very insensitive and the show tries to glorify a terrible crime involving a young girl.”
Neither victim Shannon, now aged 18, nor her family say they were asked to cooperate in the prime time programme and even tried to ban it being aired.
The drama, which continues next week, describes the frantic £3.2million police search for the schoolgirl. Hundreds of neighbours joined in the 24-day hunt unaware that her mum, inspired by the outpouring of grief and huge public donations to help find Maddie, had plotted an elaborate hoax.
Shannon was eventually discovered just a mile away, drugged inside the wooden base of a double bed at the home of Michael Donovan, the uncle of Matthews’ boyfriend at the time Craig Meehan.
They had orchestrated the plot to bag the £50,000 reward money.
As well as re-telling the search the two-parter deals with the fallout of the community after they discovered they had been lied to.
The Moorside writer Neil McKay defended not making contact with Shannon’s family, insisting he didn’t want to put Matthews’ back in the public eye. He said: “We don’t defend her or condemn her, and we don’t make an apology for her crime.”
Maddie’s mum Kate, a former GP, and heart doctor dad Gerry, believe their daughter – who would now be 13, could still be alive. The couple, both 48, from Rothley, Leics, are hoping “a miracle” reunites them with their daughter soon.
Scotland Yard are working on one last “throw of the dice” lead which Kate and Gerry are praying could solve the mystery.
BBC1 drama The Moorside aired last night, with Sheridan Smith praised for her portrayal of Julie Busby – Matthews’ pal who helped lead the efforts to find Shannon.
Julie has also revealed she believes she knows the real reason Matthews lied about Shannon’s kidnap.
Meanwhile viewers took to Twitter to show their disgust at Matthews, with some even sending death threats – while other views mocked Sheridan’s attempt at a Yorkshire accent.
And Loose Women panellist Janet Street-Porter has revealed her shame at lending her support to Matthews when Shannon first went missing in 2008.
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