Shannon Matthews hoax abduction

It's in two parts - 21.00 on 7th and 14th February.

http://www.radiotimes.com/tv-programme/fjnrjt/the-moorside

Front page tomorrow.....

I heard this being discussed this afternoon, by critics who had seen it - they weren`t impressed. They said it was like East Enders and showed how two factions were formed by people wanting their day in the media. One was someone called Jeanette I think - she played the main role of the person who took Karen Matthews side. The critics said it wasn`t that good because everyone knows the conclusion.

I don`t think it should be aired, particularly because of Shannon - but maybe she has had a change of name and moved to another area.

I agree Mimi it is a shame for poor Shannon to have to watch this, but, as to airing it, it would be akin to what has happened to Goncalo and the McCanns stopping the documentary.  At least with Shannon it has been through the courts and a verdict passed and Karen has served time, and a few years have passed.  We can't really stop all these true life stories, half the programmes and films are about real cases nowadays.

Julie Bushby is the friend who stood by Karen Matthews and got the community involved in looking for Shannon.

It seems strange to say that it wasn't very good because everyone knows the outcome. That would apply to a lot of cases like the recent BBC series about the Rillington Place murders.

Yes it was a bit silly but these arty farty critics are a bit up themselves sometimes.

Apparently there was another woman on the estate who didn`t believe Karen Matthews.

candyfloss wrote:I agree Mimi it is a shame for poor Shannon to have to watch this, but, as to airing it, it would be akin to what has happened to Goncalo and the McCanns stopping the documentary.  At least with Shannon it has been through the courts and a verdict passed and Karen has served time, and a few years have passed.  We can't really stop all these true life stories, half the programmes and films are about real cases nowadays.

Do you know what happened to Shannon? Was she adopted and did she have her name changed?

I know that she and her 3 siblings who lived with Karen all went into care; most likely she was fostered rather than adopted.

She is 18 now and hopefully is living independently.

Her grandparents weren't allowed to keep her and yes I think she went into care, probably adopted. Story from a while ago..


http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/family/shannon-matthews-three-years-on-1696239

From the article about the grandparents it seems they were hopeful that Shannon would contact them when she was 18, which she must be this year.

She was 18 last September.

I wonder if Shannon's natural father had any interest in taking her in - he can't be that much of a deadbeat dad as his son by Karen was living with him at the time all this happened.

If he wasn't a deadbeat then he should have taken his daughter in.

It certainly seems odd that he didn't but we just don't know what the circumstances were.

"like them parents of Maddie McCann... Always on the bloody telly"

Just watching this now. Amazing how alike the actresses/actors are who are playing the real life people.

just bumping this as it's on and the McCann have already been mentioned as always being g on the telly

Snap Andrew

Indeed, Chrissie.

I enjoyed that programme. Rarely watch TV dramas but I certainly recommend that one.

I look forward to watching it tomorrow.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b08dxvxb/the-moorside-series-1-episode-1

Definitely worth watching

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/madeleine-mccanns-parents-blast-appalling-9777961

Will let you decide if you want a new thread for this, mods.

'THEY THINK IT'S APPALLING' Kate and Gerry McCann brand new Shannon Matthews TV drama, The Moorside as ‘insensitive’ over scenes featuring Maddie’s disappearance

A friend of the couple claims they think it was made in 'poor taste' and was bad timing considering 2017 marks 10 years since daughter Maddie disappeared



BY Tracey Kandohla  

8th February 2017, 11:28 am

THE PARENTS of Madeleine McCann have branded “as appalling” and “insensitive” last night’s controversial TV drama about the fake kidnap of Shannon Matthews which has heaped more misery on both families.

As Kate and Gerry McCann face the heart breaking 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 follows the story of nine-year-old Shannon who “vanished” from The Moorside council estate in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, in February 2008. The schoolgirl’s own mum Karen Matthews had callously made it all up.

Inspired by the huge Maddie police hunt just nine months before, her sole purpose was to cash in with an relative by grabbing the reward and any media interview fees.

She was eventually arrested, charged and jailed for eight years. She had been an accomplice in her daughter’s drugging and kidnapping


Shannon’s shocking “disappearance” after failing to return home from a school swimming trip bore a chilling similarity to that of three-year-old Maddie, who had been snatched from her bed in a holiday apartment in Portugal’s Praia da Luz in May 2007.

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.”


In another clip while discussing how best to launch the media plea with a detective Karen tells her: “I’ve got my cuddly bear that you wanted, like Maddie’s mum wants her Cuddle Cat.” The police officer asks: “Is that Shannon’s favourite” and her mum takes a long pause before answering “Probably!”

Karen's appearance before cameras clutching the toy was a near carbon copy to Kate's genuine pleas to her daughter's abductor.

Maddie’s favourite soft toy Cuddle Cat had been left lying on her bed when she vanished. In the early days Kate kept the grubby pink animal which she later recalled was dirty and  “smelt of suntan lotion” close to her. The grief stricken mum was photographed carrying the toy everywhere.

During the show’s appeal Karen shed crocodile tears as she echoed some of Kate’s words, begging: “I need her home. If anyone’s got my beautiful princess, bring her home.”

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.

“They may not sit down and watch every minute of these programmes but they are aware of them and references to their family.

"They feel is very insensitive and the show tries to glorify a terrible crime involving a young girl.”

Neither victim Shannon, now aged 18, nor her family say they were asked to co-operate in the prime time programme and even tried to ban it being aired.

The drama, which continues next week, describes the frantic £3.2 million police search for the schoolgirl. Hundreds of neighbours joined in the 24-day hunt unaware that her mum, inspired by the outpouring of grief and huge public donations to help find Maddie, was an elaborate hoax.


Shannon was eventually discovered just a mile away, drugged inside the wooden base of a double bed at the home of Michael Donovan, the uncle of step dad Craig Meehan, Karen’s boyfriend at the time. They had orchestrated the plot to bag the £50,000 reward money.

As well as re-telling the search the two-parter deals with the fallout of the community after they discovered they had been lied to.

The Moorside writer Neil McKay defended not making contact with Shannon’s family, insisting he didn’t want to put Karen back in the public eye. He said: “We don’t defend her or condemn her, and we don’t make an apology for her crime.”

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.


https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2814032/kate-gerry-mccann-brand-the-moorside-shannon-matthews-insensitive/

Can you transfer my other links as well from the other thread...