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Viewers Switch Off Soham Murders Drama As Show Makes Ian Huntley’s Girlfriend ‘A Victim’

Maxine TV Series: Viewers have been switching off the show - accusing it of portraying the girlfriend of killer Ian Huntley as a 'victim'.
Credit: Channel 5 & Alamy

Viewers of a new TV series about the Soham murders have been switching off the show – accusing it of portraying the girlfriend of killer Ian Huntley as a ‘victim’.

Channel 5’s Maxine explores the horrific murders of 10-year-old Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells in 2002. 

The three-part series is told from the perspective of Maxine Carr, who was Huntley’s girlfriend at the time.

Watch the trailer for Maxine below…

This creative choice has been met poorly by viewers, who feel the show unnecessarily positions Carr as a victim, despite being involved with the murders in real life.

One person tweeted: “I turned off Channel 5. One it’s bad acting but two it’s shocking they’re making Maxine Carr look like a victim.

“These are the victims,” they added alongside a picture of Holly and Jessica.

Another viewer added: “Disgusted that Channel 5 have made and are airing a drama about Maxine Carr. She covered up for Huntley. Stop glamorising this evil.”

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A third shared: “In case anyone watching Maxine has forgotten the real victims. Two beautiful innocent children who had their whole lives ahead of them.  They were murdered by Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr covered for him by providing a false alibi.

“Maxine is attempting to paint her as a victim.”

Woman plays Maxine Carr in Channel 5 TV series.
The TV series about the Soham murders is causing viewers to switch off as Maxine Carr is being presented as a ‘victim’. Credit: Channel 5

“Why’s Channel 5 doing a dramatisation of Maxine Carr? So gross. I don’t like how people romanticise crime,” added a fourth viewer.

“Documentaries are one thing but dramatisations are quite gross.”

Someone else posted: “Why have Channel 5 made this show… because if it’s to make Maxine Carr look like a victim then it should be pulled. There are many victims and she is NOT one of them.”

Ian Huntley was a school caretaker who lured the girls into his home and took both their lives.

Carr – the girls’ teaching assistant – knowingly provided Huntley with a false alibi.

She soon became known as ‘Britain’s Most Hated Woman’ for helping Huntley cover up his crimes.

She even gave an interview before her arrest where she said one of the victims made her a card.

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Carr went on to say that Holly was ‘a little angel’ and that Jessica was a ‘very funny’ little girl.

The couple was eventually caught and Huntley received 40 years imprisonment while Carr got three-and-a-half years for perverting the course of justice.

She served just 21 months of her sentence and was released under a new identity in 2004.

The pair had met in 1999 when she was 22 and Huntley was 25, at a nightclub in Grimsby

According to Carr, she was ‘instantly attracted’ to him because of his pleasant personality and they began dating that same night.

All available episodes of Maxine can be found on Channel 5’s website here.

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Written by Rosario Monachino

Rosario is a content editor at IGV who specialises in film, TV and entertainment news. He has a degree in English and Film from the University of Salford and a masters in Journalism from Liverpool John Moores University.