Laurence Dollimore
NETFLIX has officially announced it will finally stream a hard hitting, in-depth documentary series about Madeleine McCann this week.
The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann will be available to stream tomorrow and will take a detailed look at one of the most famous missing persons cases in history.
Maddie disappeared from the Praia de Luz resort in Portugal when she was just three years old, sparking an international investigation that is still active today.
Netflix announced today: “It was a disappearance that reverberated across the whole world, and as her distraught parents Gerry and Kate begged for information regarding her whereabouts, the Portuguese police together with Scotland Yard mobilised a major investigation; an investigation which would go on to become the most high-profile missing child case in British history.
“Twelve years on, the series will tell the case over eight parts, detailing events from the moment of Madeleine’s vanishing to the present day.”
The Olive Press will feature in the first two episodes, it can be revealed, after filming with the streaming service last year.
Crews interviewed publisher of Spain’s biggest expat paper Jon Clarke, who was the first UK print journalist in the resort when the news broke of Maddie’s disappearance some 12 years ago.
In the new documentary, Clarke travels to Portugal and retraces his steps in 2007 with the film crew.
Directed by Chris Smith, the man behind Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened, and executive produced by Emma Cooper and produced by UK-based Pulse Films in association with Paramount Television, the series has access to never-before-heard testimonies from those at the heart of the story including friends of the McCann family, investigators working the case and from those who became the subjects of media speculation and rumour.
Netflix added: “By blending new interviews with more than 40 contributors, 120 hour of interviews, archival news footage and reenactments, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann takes an insightful look at the facts of the case as well as its impact on media standards around the world and the emotional effect on those involved entrenched in the investigation.
“The series gives a unique look behind the headlines to offer new perspectives on the story; a story that became more than just a missing child investigation but a global obsession in the search for the truth, amidst accusations of police incompetence and suspicions at every turn.
“As the media descended, the intense pressure loomed over local officials to solve the case under the full glare and scrutiny of the whole world.”
Jon Clarke should be applauded for breaking this story of the abduction world attention, and continuing to keep it alive. All that despite vicious criticism from (some) readers who placed their angry adolescent notions of class analysis of the McCann family ahead of human compassion, morality and empathy.
And the response of Portuguese authorities was as expected: incompetent, late and accusatory. I know because I was living in Lisboa, working with attorneys, reading the popular press and joining in cafe arguments. But Jon stubbornly persisted, following tips from all sources.
The Olive Press file on Madeleine McCann, including the many, many comments and articles is a fascinating journey through the minds of that era’s OP readers and commentators.