the audience applauded

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I am surprised that this series got so many positive reviews. Perhaps I am completely spoiled by Emlyn Williams' book "Beyond Belief", which is the definitive book on the case, written in the late sixties. It is profoundly eerie, giving you a sense of "being there" that this series completely seems to ignore. It feels like a TV movie, with an almost total lack of real atmosphere. And if ANY case deserves to scare you, or has the power to, this one does. Brady and Hindley were truly, and I believe happily, evil. They exulted in it. The actor playing Brady could have been used to much greater effect, and is the only one in the film that really delivers. The period production lacks HORRIBLY- this is comparable to some VH-1 ham-handed treatment of the sixties where everyone is wearing headbands and peace signs. Things like this give a film heft, gravity, and atmosphere. And this has none, in my opinion.

To me, when I first learn't about who Myra Hindley was, when she died back in 2002, I was again convinced that there are people out there who are just pure evil. To do what she did, the heaviest penitence is irreversible. Her and her partner, Ian Brady who unfortunately is still with us, sent chills through my imagination of what those poor kids suffered at the hand of these two monsters. This killer couple I've found the most disturbing in crime history, more so than the Wests. One reason, especially when you consider, one of the victims (a little girl) was asked to perform a horrendous sexual act for the sick gratification of these two scumbags, recorded on a tape seized, when found in a suitcase, amongst some other items that a proved a freaky find. The torture of this poor little girl, ran for sixteen minutes, played in court. I just recently read the actual transcript that was disturbing, even though I thought the dialogue was gonna be much worse. I know I would be much more disturbed if I heard the actual tape, where there's nothing worse than hearing a little girl, crying out for her mother. The 138 minute movie here, takes off, just before Hindley's sister's husband, Dave Smith, is introduced to Brady, at the invitation of Myra. Smith, the supposed third party in the murders, really got the short end of the stick, subjected to verbal and physical abuse, from angry crowds. Soon Brady and Smith are really buddying it up, where Dave, struck for cash, is thrown an offer by Brady to knock over a young guy. But that night, Smith really sees Brady's true colors, where he goes radge on the victim Edward Evans, a homosexual with an axe. This scene is violently confronting, but is sufficient to the rest of the movie, where other parts could of been bloody but were wisely held back, as Snowtown smartly did. We should be praising Smith who went to the authorities the next morning, where if he didn't, these two monsters could still walking among us. When Hindley and Brady are taken in they, they stick with their stories, making Smith to be the bad guy. When finding a notebook with a victim's name, amongst many movie stars, and that infamous suitcase, this is when the real horror was discovered, and these two became the most hated couple in Britain. In my opinion the story structure was so well formulated here. You can see it was done with care, as the writer honed in on all the important parts of this atrocity, you never hope in any lifetime you'll see an exact repeat of. In the roles, of Hindley and Brady, Peake's fantastic as Myra, showing a manipulative menace, as a normalcy that masked true evil, only Harris is better as the psychopathic nut, Brady. This fantastic British actor that you better watch out for, nailed it. A truly flawless performance, if I ever saw one. Harris truly sent chills down my spine, every moment he was on the screen, as I really got to know the face behind this evil monster, who personally, his death won't come soon enough. One point the nut, and Smith, were taking a slash outside, as Brady openly admits, "I've killed four people, I haven't finished yet". And of course, Smith didn't believe him, like most acquaintances of serial killers wouldn't. We are put through the horror with all the legwork on the Moors, where a couple of victims surfaced, plus the trial, Smith pleading his innocence to the victim's families to no avail. In the end he was acquitted, where a violent brawl years later, ended him one in the nick. And then there's the aftermath of Smith's wife, alone, who's really broke down and had sunk into an abyss of depression. It's just so terrible and unfair, how the surrounding family members cop it, over one evil doer, that happens to be related. I couldn't by it, how when Maureen, the sister, went to visit Myra with her mother in prison, how innocent Hindley seemed, her act of redemption, where she had cut of contact from Brady altogether. But we too remember Hindley was a manipulative SOB, better put to rest 12 feet under. Apparently 12 people showed up at Hindley's funeral. That many, hey. Smith, (who's kids had grown, forgetting one loss at birth, earlier) and Maureen had reunited years later, but I guess the past was all too much for her. The two players of these characters were convincingly good, no more than the impressive Froggart who really brought the helplessness of Maureen, at times almost too good, not that there's anything wrong with that. They just weren't up to the main players standard. This movie, that could of of had a better title, is involving, absorbing, and for some I can imagine disturbing, and even more so, to the British public, with ground knowledge of this terrible sixties shock event, worse than any horror movie, you'd rent instead.

STAR RATING: ***** The Works **** Just Misses the Mark *** That Little Bit In Between ** Lagging Behind * The Pits To mark the 40th anniversary of Ian Brady and Myra Hindley's convictions for the horrific 'Moors Murders', ITV1 has produced this dramatization of their hunt, capture and conviction, charting their friendship with Dave Smith (Michael McNulty), boyfriend of Hindley's sister, whom Brady tried to warp into his twisted little world. It was only when he saw Brady butchering 17 year old Edward Evans to death that it all came out and the pair were caught.People reacted to this production with the expected mixed emotions. It was always going to be one of the most controversial productions the station had ever green-lighted, and there was understandable out-rage, offense and shock from some when it went ahead. But the families of the victims were okay with it and this drama does manage to be as realistic yet sensitive as it could possibly be.This can hardly be described as 'entertaining', but by telling the dark true story that it is, it does play out with the required haunting gusto, with some dark camera shots and a few quiet, reflective scenes.Performances wise, Sean Harris and Maxine Peake as the two main characters are highly effective, as are some of the supporting cast including George Costigan as the detective who lead the investigation that brought the pair to justice. Some of the others might need to brush up on their craft a bit, but they do not stop what is generally a well made and very effective timely re-telling of events nobody wanted to know but had to hear. ****

This was a superb, well written very emotive drama. It handled a very difficult subject with sensitivity and respect. Maxine Peake and Sean Harris were brilliant in their often chilling portrayal of Hindley and Brady. As were Michael McNulty and Joanne Frogatt as Hindleys sister and brother in law. The subject matter was done with a care not to over sensationalise it for the drama. The inclusion of the actual photographs of the children who were murdered kept reminding the viewer that this was a drama based on REAL events that meant a lot to the families involved. The follow up of the effect that it had on Hindleys sister was also interesting as it enabled the viewer to see that it wasn't just the families of the murdered children that suffered as a result of what Hindley and Brady had done. An excellent piece of factual drama, well worth a viewing.