The actress playing Kate McCann in a new drama has said she thought about Madeleine “every day” during filming – but still finds it hard to imagine the incredible pain her mother is feeling.
It is now almost two decades since Madeleine McCann disappeared from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve, Portugal in May 2007.
She was aged just three at the time and the police search for her became one of the most famous missing person cases in modern history.
Now in ‘Under Suspicion: Kate McCann’, actress Laura Bayston plays the lead role in a Channel 5 film that TV bosses say “shines a light” on one of the most shocking moments in the entire case: when Kate was treated as the prime suspect ‘arguido’ in her daughter’s disappearance.
Kate and husband Gerry McCann, who were cleared of any wrongdoing in 2008, found themselves wrongly accused of a cover up. Kate found herself trapped between co-operation and self-preservation as she was confronted by detectives facing hours and hours of questioning.
To begin with she was helpful but after being named as a prime suspect and offered a plea deal if she admitted some guilt, angry Kate defied all accusations by answering “no comment” on her lawyer’s advice. As she leaves the police station, viewers are reminded that this story began with a mother searching for her child, and that no amount of suspicion, however constructed, will diminish her hope of finding her daughter.
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Asked if she felt the weight of that responsibility of the role, Laura said: “No. But I did feel the weight to be truthful and authentic to the script, which was so brilliantly written.
“But I also felt a huge responsibility toward Kate, of course. I thought of her and Madeleine every minute of every day while filming.”
She went on to say she remembered the disappearance of Madeleine when it became national news in the Summer of 2007. Maddy is due to turn 23 today.
“I have two children who were a similar age at the time and it terrified me. It was shocking. It’s still shocking, “ she recalled.
Laura also admitted her first reaction to being offered the lead role was one of shock.
“I was stunned because at my first meeting with our director, I already had a strong sense of how I’d want to approach the role, an opinion I gambled on sharing at that time because I felt there was no other way for me to do it respectfully.
“So, when I was offered the role, yes, I was stunned but also relieved that as a team our views were aligned in approaching such an important story.”
She added: “I use what’s available to me in terms of research, so that’s reading books, interviews etc and I approach the role as I would any – I try and get inside the human, but also that of a mother, a wife and a woman. I’m all these things and I’ve felt the pain of grief and loss, so I use that. But I think to truly understand the weight of such immense pressure and scrutiny of this scale is impossible.”
Referring to the hardest scene to film, Laura said: “When Kate is presented with her offer by the police, which is to admit guilt, that was truly horrific and an absolute punch in the guts to film. It was hard to rein in the emotions for that one – a mix of utter despair to white rage and back again.”
The Mirror has seen the 90 minute drama and, like 5’s recent drama on Huw Edwards, it is a difficult watch but for very different reasons.
Whilst Edwards was convicted of making indecent images of children, Kate McCann is an innocent victim in this drama and has done nothing wrong.
On screen she is seen being told by police “we don’t believe you” and the scenes where her lawyer asks her to consider the police’s offer and confess to something she didn’t do is a heartbreaking scene.
Watching her be grilled by Portuguese police for hours on end, with the scenes using questions and answers from original transcript notes, you do feel like you are inside the room hearing it unfold. It is a painful thing to watch and imagine happening in real life.
Whilst it may also be argued it could be a drama aimed at getting TV ratings from cashing in on Maddy’s famous disappearance, Channel 5 insists there is an interesting and informative film to be made. Madeleine would be turning 23 years old today(TUES) if she is still alive. A fresh search for her in Portugal last year made no new major breakthroughs.
Commissioning editor Dan Louw says he hopes the film “humanizes an event that was previously told in quite a one-sided way”. He insisted there was a legitimate reason to make a TV drama over another documentary on the subject.
Dan explained: “Versions of this story have already been told in documentaries (as well as books, article, podcasts, etc.), but dramas can be more emotionally engaging – to be deeper and more detailed; to concentrate not just what actually happened, but how it actually felt to be there. I think the ‘arguidos’ part of the investigation has been largely ignored because it’s a complicated diversion for a stalled investigation – albeit one that cast a very long shadow, even to this day.”
Asked if he felt a responsibility about using the case as a subject matter, he added: “The only thing that we talked about more than the script was our responsibility to all of those involved. We wanted to make sure that the family knew what we were doing, we offered them the chance to contribute, and we sought advice from people who were close to them.
“I think Paula (the director), Phillip (the writer), Laura Bayston, the rest of the cast, and the whole Orchard team, have approached this project with integrity, honesty and humanity. The first time I saw it, I knew that this would be something that would deeply affect people in a constructive way.”
Asked for his biggest challenge, writer Philip Ralph said: “The Portuguese Policia Judicaria (PJ) officers who interrogated Kate McCann in 2007 did not audio record their interviews. Instead one of their team took detailed notes in Portuguese which were then translated into English for Kate McCann to sign off once the interview was complete.
“So the biggest challenge was crafting dialogue that accurately represented the Portuguese police’s questions and direction of enquiry whilst also ensuring that Kate’s answers were accurate to the record and the facts of the case. And then, once that work was done the dialogue had to be accurately translated back into Portuguese for the actors playing the PJ officers. It was a complex, painstaking process. “
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He added: “I strongly believe this film offers a much-needed antidote to the hyperbole and conspiracy that has dogged this story for nearly 20 years.”
* Under Suspicion: Kate McCann is on 5 on Wednesday May 20 at 9pm.
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