Rillington Place, BBC1: cast, true story, and four other things to know as Tim Roth plays serial killer John Christie

The three-part drama recreates a huge miscarriage of justice from various perspectives
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Ben Travis29 November 2016

If you’re dreading the end of The Missing, the BBC has got another crime drama to keep you hooked.

Rillington Place is no winter warmer, though – it’s a dark and brooding chiller re-telling the numerous murders of serial killer John Christie.

With impressive talent behind and in front of the camera, here’s what you need to know.

1) It’s a tragic serial killer story

Rillington Place tells a true story – and it’s definitely not a happy one. John Christie is one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers, and murdered several women throughout his life.

As well as killing – spoiler alert – his upstairs neighbour Beryl Evans, her baby daughter Geraldine, and his own wife Ethel, Christie framed Beryl’s husband Timothy, who was hung for the crimes.

Timothy Evans’ death was a huge miscarriage of justice – and one which was a factor in the abolition of capital punishment in the UK.

2) It’s got a high-profile cast

Taking on the role of Christie is Tim Roth, while Samantha Morton plays his estranged wife Ethel.

“The fact of not being able to get at the inner workings of [John Christie] actually says a lot about him,” Roth explains.

“He developed a character, a performance, that was very warm and comforting to people around him, to his neighbours, his peers and people at work.”

There’s also a reunion for My Mad Fat Diary actors Nico Mirallegro and Jodie Comer, who play Tim and Beryl Evans.

Jodie Comer as Beryl Evans
BBC/Des Willie

3) Each episode follows a different perspective

This new take on the Rillington Place murders is being told in an innovative way – with each of the three episodes coming from a different perspective.

First up is Ethel, then Timothy, and finally John (who also goes by middle name Reg).

“We decided to tell the story as a triptych because we felt it was so dark and we didn’t want to start with a murder,” explains writer Tracey Malone.

“We wanted an opportunity to see Christie through other people’s eyes in a way in which we could understand why he wasn’t openly being suspected of these crimes.”

Nico Mirallegro as Tim Evans
BBC

4) The recreated house was highly detailed

As the name of the drama suggests, the setting of the house is hugely important to the show.

Writer Ed Whitemore explained that getting the detail right on it was a necessary part of making the series.

“We were really attentive about being truthful to that house which was incredibly small, like a doll’s house,” he said.

“Everybody had to walk through the Christies’ flat to reach the back yard where the three floors shared one toilet. Privacy was incredibly diminished and the walls were paper thin so you could hear everything. It was well known that Christie liked to stand on a stool and look through a peephole above his front door so he could see who was coming and going.

“In a strange way, the man reflected the house and the house reflected the man and in the end, the house was the keeper of his secrets.”

Samantha Morton as Ethel Christie
Des Willie/BBC

5) It’s from the director of And Then There Were None

The series has been directed by Craig Viveiros – whose most recent work was the BBC’s brilliant and stylish Agatha Christie adaptation And Then There Were None.

Viveiros says he was striving for realism when covering the Rillington story.

“The aim was to have quite a simple outlook and vision for Rillington Place. It’s a true story. It deals with fact and I wanted the vision to lend itself to that,” he explained.

“We looked at images from the case, documentation from newspapers of the time to more recent reports, investigations and other pieces that were put together for this notorious case.”

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6) There’s a previous film about John Christie’s murders

While it was a huge story in the news when Evans was hung and the truth about Christie emerged, there’s another reason the tale of Rillington Place is so well known.

Christie’s murders have been adapted for the screen before by director Richard Fleischer in his 1971 film 10 Rillington Place, which starred Richard Attenborough as Christie, and John Hurt as Timothy Evans.

BBC One, 9pm

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