The 20-year-old mystery with questions unanswered
Some crimes stick in the mind. It’s nearly 20 years since British backpacker Peter Falconio disappeared on a remote stretch of Australian highway, in a story that was the stuff of nightmares: a young couple flagged down by a truck driver they thought was a Good Samaritan but who turned out to be a killer. Falconio was never seen again, a pool of blood by the roadside the only trace left. His girlfriend, Joanne Lees, told police she escaped the gunman’s clutches and fled into the bush.
Bradley Murdoch, a ne’er-do-well who used that stretch of highway for drug running, was convicted of Falconio’s murder. But questions still hang over the case. Where is Falconio’s body? Why were Murdoch’s footprints not found at the scene?
What really fascinated the public, though, was Lees herself, who became the focus of suspicion. She was uncooperative with the press, did not cry in public, and made the mistake of attending a police press conference wearing a T-shirt that bore the slogan ‘Cheeky Monkey’. This was not how a victim was supposed to behave.
Murder in the Outback: The Falconio and Lees Mystery (Channel 4) is a fresh look at the case, featuring new testimony from some of the original witnesses, police officers and reporters involved. Channel 4 got everyone talking with its Michael Barrymore film earlier this year, and hopes to do the same with this – it is stripped over four consecutive nights, to be lapped up by true crime fans.
But when a colourful character called Andrew Fraser appears, we have something of a credibility problem. Fraser, an “ex-defence lawyer”, has spent the past decade combing through the evidence in an attempt to win an appeal for Murdoch. “I used to love having the reputation of being your go-to bloke if you’re in the s---,” he declared. The past tense was important here, because it turned out that Fraser’s career was ended by a $100,000-a-year cocaine habit and a jail term for drugs offences.
Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that Fraser’s investigations are invalid. But it doesn’t half stymie the first episode. It leaves Channel 4 open to the charge that it is digging up the past purely for entertainment value.
I have, though, seen all four episodes and must admit that I was gripped by the other three – tonight’s episode in particular, which features police interviews with Lees. It is no spoiler to say that the documentary doesn’t find any real answers, but it certainly raises questions.
What is so special about the Mona Lisa? She’s no great beauty. For years, the painting was displayed on a wall with other works in the Louvre and nobody paid it much attention at all. Most people who see the portrait – if they can get a decent view – are struck by how small it is. And yet is the most famous artwork on Earth.
In Great Paintings of the World (Channel 5), Andrew Marr attempted to explain it. “It’s just a portrait of a young woman who twists her head towards us, peering out of a smoky landscape through cracks and darkened varnish, and that’s about it. And yet she is magnetic. In the flesh, she is captivating,” he said.
Lucky old Marr had a one-on-one with the painting in an empty room, albeit from the other side of the safety glass. This was the first of a new series in which he tells the stories behind some of the most famous artworks in history, including The Hay Wain and Van Gogh’s Sunflowers. There was nothing ground-breaking here; had this been on the slowly expiring BBC Four, a presenter would have had a clever thesis up their sleeve. But we can take some of our most familiar pieces of art for granted, and this was a reasonably diverting hour in the Mona Lisa’s company, with experts chipping in with their insights.
Marr gave us a brief history of Leonardo’s career, including a suggestion from art critic Estelle Lovatt that his habit of flitting from one grand project to another was a sign that he had ADHD. Marr talked us through the optical effects used by the artist to achieve that enigmatic smile and the eyes that appear to follow you around the room (one pupil looking straight at you, the other slightly off). And he explained how the painting’s celebrity status was achieved in part after it was filched from the Louvre by an Italian outraged that his country’s great treasure was hanging on the wall of a French museum.
Despite all that, Marr didn’t quite nail his brief of explaining why this painting has become so beloved. Perhaps you have to see it up close to really understand.
Murder in the Outback ★★★ Great Paintings of the World ★★★