David Tennant stars in gritty study of serial killer and the society that let him flourish
Former Doctor Who goes back to the 80s to play real-life murderer Dennis Nilsen in a new drama
WHEN Dennis Nilsen was arrested in 1983 after trying to flush body parts down the toilet of his flat, he quickly confessed to killing “15 or 16” young men.
The mild-mannered civil servant had started his murderous spree five years earlier, preying on those who were homeless or living off the grid in the hope their disappearances might go unnoticed.
A new drama starring David Tennant, examines how he got away with his crimes for so long, and draws parallels between life in the 1980s and now.
Scottish actor David, 49, went to extraordinary lengths to emulate
Nilsen – reading mountains of documents, watching news footage and even learning how to mimic his signature.
One key source was biography Killing for Company by Brian Masters, who interviewed Nilsen many times in prison.
“Brian had access to a lot of Nilsen’s writing and he was able to give a broader picture of who Nilsen was,” David says.
“Playing a real person often means there are resources available to see what he looked like and how he moved. And you do not necessarily copy that – it’s not about doing an impersonation – but it’s about witnessing how they existed.”
ITV three-parter Des – after the name Nilsen gave himself when pretending to be “normal” – is a passion for David.
He got involved five years ago while filming Broadchurch for ITV.
“It’s very bleak with a lot of actual real-world damage caused by this man, but I think as a society we have to try to understand why this happened and how to not have it happen again,” he explains.
“Nilsen shouldn’t have been allowed to murder all those people.
“Somebody should have noticed a lot earlier than they did and that’s partly to do with the times and partly to do with how we as a society don’t look after all our members.”
It infuriated the police who arrested Nilsen that he could not remember his victims’ names.
His modus operandi was to pick up young men in bars or alleyways with the promise of a hot meal or a drink and take them back to his flat. He would then strangle and dismember them.
With no obvious motive, police began the biggest manhunt investigation in UK history – seeking not the murderer, but the murdered. Some of the young men were drug addicts, some were gay, others not, but almost all were poor and desperate.
In this drama Nilson’s story is told from two different angles – that of Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay, who was in charge of the case, and Brian Masters, who wrote the killer’s biography.
Daniel Mays and Jason Watkins play Jay and Masters respectively.
It highlights the police investigation and trial, as well as the impact the media’s coverage had on the public’s perceptions of the victims, raising questions of just how far we’ve come since then.
Des is on ITV, tomorrow at 9pm