The Moorside, BBC1: cast, locations, and four other things to know about Shannon Matthews drama

Sheridan Smith stars in this two-part take on the fake kidnapping scandal
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Ben Travis14 February 2017

Shannon Matthews' disappearance from a Yorkshire estate in 2008 became a huge national news story, especially in the wake of the Madeleine McCann case.

But the Matthews story became even more infamous when it turned out her own mother Karen and boyfriend Michael Donovan had engineered it as a 'fake' kidnapping.

Now the story has been dramatized in new two-part BBC show The Moorside, exploring the weeks around the search for Shannon – and everything that came after.

Here are six things you need to know about the show.

1) It’s not directly about the kidnap

While The Moorside follows the developments of the Shannon Matthews kidnap case, Matthews’ experiences aren’t the direct focus of the drama – in fact, her kidnap is never actually shown.

Instead the story focuses on the way the rest of the estate reacted to the kidnap and the shocking lie behind it.

Sheridan Smith plays the lead role of Julie Bushby, a former friend of Karen Matthews, who was a major part in the campaign to find the lost girl.

2) It’s about small-town community

The shift away from Shannon’s experience means The Moorside is really all about community – and how the residents of Dewsbury stepped up to find one of their own.

“That is what inspired me so much about Neil McKay’s script,” Smith told the Radio Times. “The way they came together and fought for that little girl.

“They’d go out searching, grab two or three hours’ sleep, then be up for more of the same the next day – and this went on for weeks.”

Stuart Wood/ITV/BBC

3) It comes from the makers of Appropriate Adult

The Moorside is written by Neil McKay and executive produced by Jeff Pope – the same duo who were behind ITV’s Rose and Fred West drama Appropriate Adult.

The pair have applied the same research-heavy methodical approach to Shannon Matthews’ story, working very closely with the real Julie Bushby and Natalie Murray.

Stuart Wood/ITV/BBC

4) Julie Bushby and Sheridan Smith remain friends

Bushby and Murray have praised actors Smith and Sian Brooke for their portrayals in the drama.

“We’re still mates now, Bushby said of Smith on This Morning. “She didn’t really ask ‘owt of me, she just spent time with me, and every time I spoke she was repeating it, trying to do it in my accent.”

Murray added: “Sheridan playing Julie, that was scary – how accurate they got Julie.”

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5) It wasn’t filmed in Dewsbury

While the show strives for authenticity, it wasn’t filmed in Dewsbury for ‘sensitivity’ reasons.

“We didn’t want to film in Dewsbury because the community had already been through a trauma,” writer McKay told The Sun. “This had to be sensitively done.”

Instead it was filmed in nearby Halifax, on an estate that closely resembles Dewsbury.

Stuart Wood/ITV/BBC

6) The Matthews family haven't endorsed it

Shannon Matthews’ grandparents June and Gordon have spoken out against The Moorside for ‘dragging up the past’.

“Shannon deserves to live her life in peace. She deserves to be left alone,” June told the Daily Mail.

“What happened to her was a trauma, a tragedy. It is sick and disgusting that it is being turned into a TV show.”

BBC One, 9pm

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