MOST HATED
TA shocking new drama explores how double killer Ian Huntley’s fiancée Maxine Carr became
he double murder of ten-year-olds Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman by school caretaker Ian Huntley in the sleepy English town of Soham in 2002 remains one of the most shocking crimes of the century. Now a three-part Channel 5 true-crime drama, Maxine, delves into the case, focusing on the role of Huntley’s fiancée Maxine Carr, a teaching assistant in Holly and Jessica’s class who provided him with an alibi.
It’s the latest in a spate of truecrime dramas including Des about serial killer Dennis Nilsen, White House Farm about the Bamber family murders and Manhunt about Milly Dowler’s killer Levi Bellfield. Maxine attempts to offer an insight into the couple’s dysfunctional relationship and explain why she would cover up for Huntley, but when images that provoked revulsion 20 years ago are brought up again, many will be inclined to ask whether it’s right to dramatise yet another horrendous case.
‘At the time of the girls’ disappearance I was a young mother, my daughter was five, and it was a story that was very much etched in my mind,’ says director Laura Way. ‘So we decided it wouldn’t glorify Maxine Carr or Ian Huntley, and that our extensive research would be reflected in the story. The series would not dramatise the victims or their families either.’
Laura says the more her team researched — they talked to 20 people who’d been involved with the case as well as poring over police and press interviews and court room transcripts — the more they realised there was a story that needed to be told. ‘I learned a huge amount about human nature, the parts you don’t want to know,’ she says. ‘The pain carried by those who lived through this ordeal is tangible and it will never go away.
‘But by the end of the show, I want the audience to know that despite the lies, manipulation and devastation caused by Huntley, and Carr by association, there were teams of outstanding individuals who ensured they were eventually brought to justice. Despite their lies, they were forced to face the truth.’
Huntley was sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment, with a minimum of 40 years spent in prison, while Carr got three-anda-half. She is now free and living under an assumed name.
We’ll never know exactly why Carr covered up for Huntley, an abusive lover who’d been accused of rape before they met. She claimed she believed him to be innocent and didn’t want to make the police aware of his past misdemeanours. The drama leaves her motives ambiguous.
‘There are still questions about who Maxine Carr was and how much she knew,’ says Laura. ‘From our research we learned she was many things: naive, vulnerable, a people pleaser... but she could also be manipulative and arrogant. Without speaking to her, the script stays true to this ambiguity. We know she was aware of Huntley’s rape charge, so did she choose to ignore his past? He was a predator and she protected him, the question is, “Why?”’
Jemma Carlton is cast as Carr. ‘I watched every documentary about her I could, and read as much as I could,’ she says. ‘The production team gave me a comprehensive “bible” full of research. Anything she’d said or done, including all the court transcripts, was in there. The detail was incredible.’
Jemma also had to get Carr’s look right. ‘The process starts with hair and make-up, and then we go to the voice and movement.’