An ITV drama released almost twenty years ago is climbing Netflix UK's Top Ten TV chart. The two-part series, See No Evil: The Moors Murders, tells the story of the Moors Murders and stars Maxine Peake (Shameless, Anne) and Sean Harris (The Stranger, The King) as infamous killers, Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.
Downton Abbey star Joanne Froggatt plays Myra's sister, Maureen Smith, in the 2006 drama, alongside Happy Valley's George Costigan as DCI Joe Mounsey and The Rising's Matthew McNulty as Maureen's husband, David.
The series is comprised of two 45-minute episodes and currently sits at number four in Netflix's Top Ten programmes in the UK.
© ITV/ShutterstockPenned by Neil McKay, who wrote the true-story dramas The Reckoning and Four Lives, the ITV series was based on extensive research and interviews, including with the real detectives involved in the investigation and the victims' families.
It's a dramatisation of the Moors murders, which were committed by Hindley and Brady between 1963 and 1965. The pair were responsible for the deaths of five children, Pauline Reade, John Kilbride, Keith Bennett, Lesley Ann Downey and Edward Evans, who were aged between 10 and 17.
© ITV/ShutterstockThe synopsis for episode one reads: "When the baby daughter of teenage parents dies at six months, the mother, Maureen turns to her sister Myra for support."
What has the critical response been?
The show was met with mostly positive reviews and even won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Drama Serial in 2007. In 2019, the series was included in The Guardian's list of best true crime shows.
5 top ITV drama series
© ITV1. The Bay
Set in Morecambe Bay, Lancashire. Investigator Lisa Armstrong is assigned to support and talk to the families of missing persons. When she discovers a personal connection to a case she's working on, her emotional involvement may cause her to overlook crucial clues.
2. A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story
A dark love story about Ruth Ellis (Lucy Boynton), the last woman to be executed in the UK in the 1950s. The historical crime drama follows her turbulent life as a nightclub manager and her violent relationship with the man she eventually murders.
3. Unforgotten
Detectives Cassie Stuart and Sunil Khan are on the top of their game to solve a series of cold cases including murders and strange disappearances. But are there consequences to digging up crimes and secrets from the past?
4. Out There
Nathan Williams (Martin Clunes), plays a farmer who risks everything to protect his son after he becomes involved with a drug gang. The dark world of county lines drug cartels begins to seep into the family's rural life.
5. Playing Nice
James Norton stars in this nightmare thriller about what happens when two sets of parents realise their sons may not be their biological children.
Where do you know the cast from?
Maxine Peake is perhaps best known for her roles in dinnerladies and Shameless. In recent years, she's appeared in Black Mirror, Anne, Inside No 9, and Say Nothing.
© Getty ImagesMeanwhile, Sean Harris is recognised for playing Solomon Lane in the Mission: Impossible films and for his role in the crime thriller, The Stranger.
Joanna Froggatt has appeared in a number of dramas over the years, including Liar, Sherwood and Downton Abbey. Find out where the other stars of Downton are now in the video below.
Where are the Moors Murderers now?
Both Brady and Hindley were jailed for life in 1966.
© Photo: Channel 4Hindley died in West Suffolk hospital at the age of 60 in 2002, while Brady lived until the age of 79 and passed away in 2017 at Ashworth Hospital in Merseyside.
See No Evil: The Moors Murders is available to stream on Netflix.
