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A Confession (2019)

2019 · Biography,Crime,Drama · dramatized-true-crime, crime-procedural

A Confession poster

A Confession is a restrained, fact-driven British true-crime miniseries dramatising the investigation into serial killer Christopher Halliwell and the career-ending consequences suffered by Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher after he broke PACE protocol to extract a confession. Anchored by outstanding performances from Martin Freeman and Imelda Staunton, it is less interested in the horror of the crimes than in the grinding collision between procedural law and human justice — following the case from discovery through a deeply frustrating trial. Tone is sober and deliberately unsensational, aimed at adult viewers who want their crime drama to carry civic and moral weight. The show functions equally as a grief portrait and a legal procedural critique.

From the reviewers

Martin Freeman performance was outstanding as I expected and Imelda Staunton's performance as the untiring mother of the victim was truly award winning in every way.
it's presented as factual, rather then sensational, it's dramatic, but not stretched beyond belief.
You will learn the ins and outs of PACE and its right procedures.
In 1984, when the Police and Criminal Evidence Act replaced the antiquated Judges Rules, nobody could have foreseen the dreadful consequences that this drama so vividly portrays. It would have been inconceivable that police procedures would have become paramount and the realities of dead bodies and grieving relatives judicially disregarded.
This story should be compulsory viewing for anyone who cares about our criminal justice system.

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