Manhunt (2019)

Watchseries; This is a three part dramatisation of the hunt for a notorious serial killer. In three years, Levi Bellfield murdered a 13 year old girl, an Irish teenager, and a French student, all in Greater London. Pared right down and seen through the eyes of one of the senior detectives on the cases, the first episode begins after the murder of Amélie Delagrange, so there is nothing too graphic for viewers of a sensitive disposition.

Bellfield is believed to have attacked many other victims who survived, including Kate Sheedy, who is alluded to herein by a pseudonym. His attack on her was particularly sadistic, because while Amélie was killed by a single blow to the head, she was run over and reversed over by Bellfield in one of his many vehicles. How she survived is anybody's guess. Although Amanda Dowler was his first victim, he was not brought to trial for her murder until years later. For American viewers, this is realism rather than drama, a social document rather than entertainment. Best to ignore the side plot.

This is a three part dramatisation of the hunt for a notorious serial killer. In three years, Levi Bellfield murdered a 13 year old girl, an Irish teenager, and a French student, all in Greater London. Pared right down and seen through the eyes of one of the senior detectives on the cases, the first episode begins after the murder of Amélie Delagrange, so there is nothing too graphic for viewers of a sensitive disposition.

Bellfield is believed to have attacked many other victims who survived, including Kate Sheedy, who is alluded to herein by a pseudonym. His attack on her was particularly sadistic, because while Amélie was killed by a single blow to the head, she was run over and reversed over by Bellfield in one of his many vehicles. How she survived is anybody's guess. Although Amanda Dowler was his first victim, he was not brought to trial for her murder until years later. For American viewers, this is realism rather than drama, a social document rather than entertainment. Best to ignore the side plot.

Manhunt watchseries. I know there will be dramatic licence, but this is one of the true to life investigation dramas I think I have seen. A lot of police dramas are farcical, and although there are some procedural inaccuracies in this, Clunes is spot on as an SIO. The members of the team are just as real. Fantastic. Just a shame youngsters died at the hands of such an evil man.

Martin Clunes can be regal at times. He's tall and slim and carries himself well. Manhunt is perfect for him. Mild-mannered yet intelligent, focused and commanding, he plays the SIO in this highly detailed study of an actual police investigation. The show's best feature is how it ramps up the excitement as the show progresses, so bear with the slow pace of the first episode, as this is an easily binged watch and you'll love the conclusion. Manhunt also neatly sidesteps the often common drag to such stories, in that we have to bear witness to detective's private life, by the simple fact that his wife is involved in a similar case from a different point of view. A lot of work went into both the real investigation and the dramatisation, and it shows. Manhunt is a great reward.

Part of the reason I liked this three-part series is that I miss those brilliant British detective series such as "Wallander", "Lewis", "Vera", "Shetland" and "DCI Banks", while not forgetting "Hinterland" where Tom Mathias seems even more in need of anti-depressants than Kurt Wallander.

Where did they all go? My TV viewing is diminished without them. I've been waiting for something to take their place.

"Manhunt" has many of the qualities that made those series so watchable. A difference is that it is based on a real case: the hunt in London for the killer of a young French woman that uncovers something far more.

Like those shows I loved, "Manhunt" concentrates more on methodical police procedure than on over-the-top shootouts or squealing tyres. But more significantly, it has depth of character. Martin Clunes as DCI Colin Sutton heads the task force hunting the killer. He is no-nonsense, but nowhere near as abrupt as his Aspergerish character in "Doc Martin".

Colin Sutton has a heart, he's a dad; he gets the pain the parents of the victim must be feeling. He demands they be informed face to face that their daughter is dead - not told over the phone as the French police plan to do.

There are other little touches that show his compassion. Here is the key ingredient that makes the best series work. The main character has empathy. No matter how tough the exterior, they can relate to what people are going through - although in his dedication to the job Colin does neglect his family a bit too much.

"Manhunt" ticks another box. Colin has a colleague who has his back - the buddy if you like. In this case it's Katie Lyons as DS Jo Blunt. She stands up for her boss when other members of the team doubt his methods

The series has an authentic look. Shot on the streets as weary men and women spend hours searching for clues. But it's the relentless combing through miles of CCTV footage and supermarket dockets that finally pays off.

It's a classy effort all round with a low-key background score by Niall Byrne setting an ominous mood.

There is another series coming in 2020. However at three short episodes a season I'm not sure it will totally break the drought.

Good honest hard work. Excellent telling of the true life crime in London, every bit as watchable as any of the many "fictional" tv cops we have today.

More in this style please.

A tense and convincing three part dramatisation of the events leading up to the arrest of serial killer Levi Bellfield in 2004. Bellfield, a hulking, aggressive, mood-swinging brute of a guy with a fetish for young girls and a hatred of blondes was eventually caught after his savage murder of a young French girl Amélie De La Grange who had only been in the U.K. for a couple of months, although he'd killed twice before, almost killed another and otherwise had a history of violence. The first major homicide case of a newly appointed DSI Colin Sutton, on whose new book the programmes are based, his old-school, meticulous approach to the evidence seemed to upset his results-driven boss and one or two young Turks in his own team but eventually paid dividends in a life-means-life conviction for the monster murderer.

The series has been justifiably commended for its non-sensationalist approach to its subject matter so that none of the killings are re-enacted, the Bellfield character gets no chance to defend or justify his actions and while there are one or two eureka moments and other tense dramatic situations like when the team await the CPS go-ahead to arrest him and then when they finally raid Bellfield's house, these are played out in a low-key, unspectacular way as befits the seriousness of the subject matter.

I guess we'll never know the dramatic licence taken with the events, such as who's real and did that actually happen but this is usually the case with sensitive true-life situations and it looked to me as if sufficient respect was paid to the parties most affected by Bellfield's actions. In particular we see this with the sympathetic treatment of Amelie's grieving parents especially when they are given the heartbreaking news that better policing after Bellfield's previous attacks might have prevented their daughter's murder.

My main criticism of the series was the usual one I find in these TV dramas, the playing up of the lead detective's family life. I could care less that he wasn't getting on with his profiler wife, missed a family wedding trip to Spain with her or that he forgot his daughter's birthday. It was very obvious without these domestic dramas to see that Colin Sutton was a driven policeman, consumed by the case.

I don't think I've seen Martin Clunes in anything since "Men Behaving Badly" even as I'm aware that he appears to be being set up as the new David Jason as he goes into his older age. He was solid in the lead part however and had good support from the rest of the cast, some of them recognisable from other TV dramas of the recent past.

This was an important story, soberly told as it should have been and a good example of how to portray tough subject matter such as this.