Madeleine McCann's parents blast "appalling" and "insensitive" BBC drama
 

Kate and Gerry McCann have hit out at the mini series The Moorside, which follows the story of nine-year-old Shannon, whose disappearance was made up by her mum Karen Matthews

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They claim the programme has heaped more misery on both families, as Kate and Gerry McCann face the heartbreaking 10th 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 said.

The show is based on the staged kidnapping of nine-year-old Shannon who “vanished” from The Moorside council estate in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in February 2008.

But the schoolgirl’s own mum Karen had callously made it all up.


Maddie’s plight was highlighted at least three times in the well publicised opening episode.

In one scene Karen’s 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.”


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.

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Maddie’s mum, 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. :clap1: :fc:

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...alling-9777961
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Do you feel the pain and anguish that Kate and Gerry do about this BBC programme?

McCanns didn't find it "insensitive" when they used another childs image to get publicity early days

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...-mccann-294156

Im half way through watching it now, and I think they might have a point.

Imagine thinking they invented the concept of missing children.

I am concerned about the effect this program may have on Shannon. Do I give a crap what the McCanns think of it? Not particularly. You cannot really have a program about this without mentioning the obvious, and Karen did this to try and make some of the fortune the McCanns have made by a 'child disappearing'.

I agree with Vicky; I have concerns over the concept of the show as a whole (it seems tacky and exploitative) but not because of the mention of Maddie. If they were a family who had previously asked for privacy / to be left alone, fine, but... They have no problem with her name being "public domain" in general and Kate has even published a book of her own so... It's really the least of my concerns that she's mentioned a couple of times. It's relevant to the "story".

What concerns me is that a girl was horribly used by her own family in a money making scheme and she is now old enough to understand exactly what went on. The whole thing also smacks of being "a dig at scummy folks on council estates" in general (it even appaz has her from that show about chavs and crisps). None of it is something that I'm entirely comfortable with being played out for entertainment and to be honest, I suspect from the sounds of it, for laughs.

They are probably annoyed that Shannon was the focus of that program and not them.

you spilt my tea

These people always have to poke their way into everything, They were happy to use Ben Needhams name when it suited them, They just want to steal the limelight and make it about them.

They only care about making money

Dire pair of wankers.

It does seem that way Adam:wavey:

me trying to care

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As they face the heartbreaking 10th anniversary... by gearing up for some appearances on Britain's Got Talent :whistle:

Not Kate doing a vanishing act on the twins?

it does feel very wrong on all sorts of levels, it's not like its raising awareness or doing any good, its just making "drama" for a Tuesday night out of a families nightmare.

No different to the countless other movies/shows made from real life stories.

I like how they've focussed on the Julie woman and the community's genuine concern and hard work to find Shannon and not on the despicable Matthews themselves.

If anyone thought the show itself poked fun at the working class or council estates in general clearly didn't watch it.

I don't know much about the case itself, but a lot of people on the other thread here seem to think that Maddie died accidentally after neglect and the McCanns covered it up to avoid conviction and prison.
I could get why they would be afraid of their careers being ruined; their little twins being left parentless etc, - what I don't understand is why then they would think to themselves "Okay, we've got rid of her body, so that's that done, now lets make a ****load of money out of her and enjoy the media attention; might as well".
That wouldn't make them neglectful, terrified parents, that would make them monsters...and unless they actually planned to kill Maddie in cold blood to make big bucks out of her death, I just don't get 'how they only care about making money'. It doesn't make sense.

I don't know why the McCanns even need to be mentioned or involved in this tbh.I think it's a bad decision to air this because that girl is possibly going to have people coming up to her talking about the show and her without them even knowing it.She's going to have to hear everyone's opinions of her and her family and have the whole thing brought up again.

They used money raised for the purposes of finding their missing daughter to make mortgage payments on their house. That's not normal IMO.

:clap1:

So do you think they purposely killed her and got rid of her body to make money? Or do you think it was an accident and a cover up and they have morphed from parents who left their children alone for 30 min intervals (which turned into a tragedy) into monsters with no conscience who crave money and media attention? I just can't get my head around the latter scenario at all.

Leaving your children alone on holiday is pretty appalling too tbh :idc:

I'm not going to pretend to know what happened to Maddie, but they've shown themselves to be monsters either way IMO.

An alternative is if their careers were neglected because they were devoting most to their time to finding Maddie, I guess bills still need to be paid. :shrug:
I don't know a lot about the case, and at the moment I'm just trying to work out in my head what I think about it.