Almost 70 years after he was hanged, Peter Manuel remains one of Scotland’s most notorious serial killers. Known as the “Beast from Birkenshaw”, Manuel terrorised communities across Lanarkshire and the south-east of Glasgow during a two-year killing spree that left nine people dead between 1956 and 1958.
Now, his chilling story is being brought to the stage in The Long Drop, a major new production at Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre. Premiering on June 5 and running until June 20, the play is adapted from Denise Mina’s acclaimed novel and reimagined for the stage by award-winning Scottish playwright Linda McLean.
Rather than focusing solely on Manuel’s crimes, The Long Drop centres on the extraordinary and disturbing relationship between the killer and William Watt, whose wife, daughter and sister-in-law were murdered by Manuel in 1956.
On the night of September 17, 1956, Manuel shot dead 45-year-old Marion Hunter Watt, her 16-year-old daughter Vivienne Isabella and Marion’s 42-year-old sister Margaret Hunter Brown at the Watt family home in Burnside. He used an illegally purchased revolver before disposing of the weapon in Glasgow’s River Clyde.
In the aftermath, Watt was initially treated as the chief suspect and taken into police custody before eventually being released.
During a later prison sentence for another offence, Manuel began corresponding with Watt and his solicitor, laying the foundations for one of Scotland’s most bizarre criminal relationships.
The official description for the play reads: “Glasgow, 1957. A family destroyed. A man who insists he knows why.
“Between whisky-soaked confessions and half-truths swirling in cigarette smoke, William Watt and Peter Manuel share a night that will change everything. Winding through stale-aired bars, shadowed backstreets and tangled lies – leading to one of the most infamous trials in Scottish history.
“From one of Scotland’s most acclaimed crime writers, Denise Mina, and adapted by award-winning playwright Linda McLean, The Long Drop is an electrifying new play – equal parts psychological thriller and pitch-black comedy. Gritty and gripping, it plunges us into a world of gangsters, gossip, and half-truths told over one too many drinks.
“Directed by Dominic Hill this is where truth slips through your fingers, the stakes are razor-sharp, and the laughs cut just as deep. The Long Drop is a darkly stylish descent into the heart of a city – and the haunted minds of the men who shape it.”
The production explores one of the darkest chapters in Scottish criminal history. Born in New York in 1927 to Scottish parents, Manuel returned to Britain as a child and grew up between Coventry and Motherwell.
His criminal behaviour began early, escalating from theft to increasingly violent and sexual offences. He spent time in borstal before being jailed at just 15 years old for a hammer attack on a sleeping woman.
Following the Burnside murders, Manuel continued his killing spree. After being released from prison in November 1957, he murdered five more victims in just five weeks, resulting in the deaths of Peter and Doris Smart and their 11-year-old son Michael in Uddingston over the New Year.
View 2 ImagesPeter Manuel (Image: Daily Record)
His arrest finally came in 1958 after police gathered enough evidence linking him to the crimes. During a sensational trial in Glasgow, Manuel dismissed his legal team and conducted much of his own defence as crowds gathered outside the court.
He was convicted of seven murders and sentenced to death. Manuel was hanged at Barlinnie Prison on July 11, 1958, becoming one of the last men executed in Scotland before capital punishment was abolished in the UK in 1965.
At the heart of The Long Drop is the psychological battle between Manuel and Watt. Leading the cast is Brian Vernel as Peter Manuel, he is known for his roles in Slow Horses, Gangs of London and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
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Opposite him is Keith Fleming as William Watt, marking his return to the Citizens Theatre and his 19th collaboration with director Dominic Hill. Fleming has appeared on every major Scottish stage and performed in Macbeth alongside Ralph Fiennes and Indira Varma.
With its blend of true crime, psychological drama and dark humour, The Long Drop offers audiences a gripping new perspective on one of Scotland’s most infamous murder cases.
Tickets are priced from £12 to £36.50, with performances at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, from June 5 to June 20.