Maxine

Should a drama series be made about such a terrible crime? This will undoubtedly be a divisive piece of television and many will argue it's inappropriate. On the other hand there are exploitative true crime documentaries on TV every night which attract an audience.

To be fair to the makers they chose to frame the story through the eyes of Maxine Carr rather than her abhorrent partner.

As a drama it was well made and directed, the script was good and the two central performances were excellent. Its hard to believe this was Jemma Carlton's first major role playing Maxine, she surely has a great career in front of her. It was better than I expected all round.

Personally I didn't find it disrespectful the way it was told, but I can easily understand why others would disagree or avoid watching.

Very difficult subject matter. It is hard to believe it is 20 years since this story dominated the news.

When the shock of the Huntley/Carr complicity finally came to light it was a shock to all those that had followed the story as the perpetrators were by now know to the public.

The thing about Huntley was he was believable and had an almost baby face of innocence.

This is where I feel the drama has got it wrong. The Huntley character is too hard looking with severe died black hair. In the drama he looked suspicious throughout which was not the case in real life.

However, the whole event has been dramatized well. Obviously the Huntley/Carr dialogue behind closed doors is a matter for conjecture, but they are word perfect in their public speaking.

Being Channel 5 I had expected it to miss the mark, but apart the casting of Huntley it was dramatized very well.

As contemporary dramas go we are force fed endless murder and serial killer stories, but the reality puts these into some sort of perspective.

Maxine Carr and Ian Huntley, two names that conjure up many feelings, mainly loathing, repulsion and hatred.

This three part series tells the story of the pair, giving some background to their toxic relationship, and the failings in authority that allowed Huntley to land the job of a school caretaker.

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to watch it, I remember the case very well, such a tragedy, but it was very well and sensitively handled I thought.

Without a doubt this is one of the best dramas to come from Channel five, in terms of acting and direction, credit to the production team.

Terrific acting, amazing to see that this was a first TV role for Jemma Carlton, who perfectly portrayed Card, that scene of the TV interview was chillingly authentic. Scott Reid was terrific as Huntley also.

If you are sensitive, if advise a little caution, as it's of course a harrowing, and deeply upsetting story.

8/10.

I felt very uncomfortable while watching this ,well aware of the backlash that channel 5 were getting .

It was so hard to look at them both , without having that sick feeling that you get when you are repulsed by someone .

Perhaps it will help to keep us all reminded of the fact that there are evil people in this world , disguised in everyday jobs , in our towns and communities , and how easy it can sometimes be for them to slip under the radar.

Not for one minute ,did I find this in any way an easy watch , as I imagine everybody else did not either .

Jemma Carlton played the role very well,, a brave undertaking considering that she was a newcomer .

I did not like a lot of the scenes involving the journalists , it made me feel angry that tragedies like this are handled so insensitively by the press. For them, it's all about selling newspapers .

But , that is the reality of it .

Whether , this drama should have been made or not , I really cannot say, but I would imagine that everbody who watched it felt anger towards those two, and upset , and brokenhearted for Holly and Jessica's families.

This 3-part drama told the shocking story of the 2002 Soham murders of two young ten-year-old girls from the viewpoint of the evil murderer Ian Huntley's girlfriend Maxine Carr. She it was who, even though she knew and taught the two girls in her job as a classroom assistant, initially gave him the alibi which kept him away from police scrutiny until the growing suspicion against him grew too strong, resulting in them both being convicted at trial, he for the murders and she for covering up for him.

The $64000 question here of course is did she suspect or worse, know all along that he was the perpetrator? Huntley has since claimed that she did and certainly the zeal with which she cleaned the house where he committed his vile misdeeds and covered up for him in other ways certainly casts doubts on her own story that she loved him almost blindly and thus completely believed he was incapable of the killings. She seemed not to know all the details of his criminal past which as we later learn involved a pattern of sexual attacks on very young girls, instead preferring to believe his claims of police victimisation even in the face of his own jealous, possessive behaviour to her, to the point where we see him strike her on the face during one of their many heated arguments.

Eventually, when they're separately incarcerated awaiting trial, the scales fall from her eyes and she turns on him, her testimony no doubt helping to convict him although she was rightly convicted of obstructing justice and herself sentenced to jail for three years, going on to serve half her sentence. On release, the powers-that-be provided her with a change of identity and she is now reportedly living a new life in anonymity somewhere, it's said, with a husband and child.

Personally speaking I was somewhat uneasy with both the title of this programme and its slant on the story as detracting from the heinous crimes committed and Carr's crucial part in withholding valuable evidence which would undoubtedly have led to a quicker resolution and in so doing reduced the families' torment. At least the programme shows discretion over the actual murders, with no attempt at their recreation, a silent camera going up the stairs to the bathroom where Huntley likely killed Holly and Jessica, leaving it to the viewer's imagination as to what happened next. Indeed, neither of the two children or their families are portrayed at any stage, I would again attribute to questions of decency and respect.

As ever with productions like this, the drama requires the creation and insertion of fictitious characters and scenes to "bolster" the narrative as we witness the different approaches of two competing journalists on the case, one a local reporter shown as the rather obvious caring, sympathetic father of a young daughter the same age as Holly and Jessica, whose sympathetic, matter-of-fact approach is contrasted with that of a national tabloid female reporter out to sensationalise the story.

The lead performances by the actors playing Carr and Huntley are well-drawn with both bearing strong physical resemblances to their real-life counterparts while the direction itself was skilful and relatively subtle in faithfully following the timeline of events as they occurred.

Whether it was the correct aspect from which to tell this horrifying story, I remain to be convinced, as I can't help but wonder how firstly the parents and other relatives of the dead children as well as the real Carr in her new life would react to what they saw here. I personally suspect the former with dissatisfaction and the latter perhaps with unmerited vindication...