''In Plain Sight'' is a Scottish television drama series covering the crimes committed by serial killer

Peter Manuel Peter Thomas Anthony Manuel (13 March 1927 – 11 July 1958) was a Scottish-American serial killer who was convicted of murdering seven people across Lanarkshire and southern Scotland between 1956 and his arrest in January 1958, and is believed ...

in Lanarkshire, Scotland in the 1950s. The three-part series was first broadcast on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

on 7 December 2016. The series is distributed worldwide by

BBC Worldwide BBC Worldwide Ltd. was the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the BBC, formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor BBC Enterprises in January 1995. The company monetises BBC brands, selling BBC and other British programming for broadcas ...

Plot

The plot revolves around serial killer

, who killed at least eight people between 1956 and 1958 in Lanarkshire, and the detective who pursued him to his conviction, William Muncie. Manuel, who was born in the United States, was known as "The Beast of Birkenshaw" (as he lived in Birkenshaw, Uddingston). He taunted his pursuer with messages and even sent him birthday and Christmas cards. At the time, local police had never dealt with this level of criminality before; Manuel chose his victims at random, with no apparent reason and ended up scaring a whole community so much that everyone started locking their doors. The series follows the destructive trail that Manuel left and shows him revelling in his cockiness with the police and his victims, even going so far as representing himself in his criminal trials.

Cast

* Douglas Henshall as William Muncie * Martin Compston as

* James Harkness as Joe Brannan *

Sorcha Groundsell Sorcha Groundsell (born 15 February 1998) is a Scottish actress. She starred in the Netflix series ''The Innocents (TV series), The Innocents'' (2018) and the independent film ''Far From the Apple Tree'' (2018). Early life Her father was a gr ...

as Jane Muncie * Shauna Macdonald as Agnes Muncie * Kate McLaughlin as Sandra Muncie * Joanne Thomson as Iris Laird * Gavin Jon Wright as Hugh Kirk * Jack Greenlees as DS McLeod * Jenny Hulse as Mary McLauchlan * Lousie McCarthy as Babs * Stewart Porter as John Buchanan * Gilly Gilchrist as Sammy Manuel * Joanna Roth as Bridget Manuel * Bobby Rainsbury as Theresa Manuel *

Michael Nardone Michael Nardone (born 20 January 1967) is a Scottish actor. He was raised in Ballingry, Fife and trained in Drama at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. He starred as Mascius in the BBC/ HBO/RAI TV series Rome and appeared as DCI Richard ...

as Det Supt Leish * Gary Lewis as William Watt

Research

Both Compston and Henshall spent time researching their parts and the characters they would be playing. Compston admitted to being scared stiff in one scene and said that he had driven around to Manuel's old house after filming and parked up, "just to sit outside". Henshall talked about his part with William Muncie's daughter and was determined to bring the character to life, who, by Henshall's estimation, was single-minded in catching Manuel but also the only one who took to the notion of him being a serial killer. The production caused controversy amongst the relatives of some of the victims. The production team tried to contact everyone, but Stuart and David Reid, whose two aunts, Marianne Watt and Margaret Brown and cousin, Vivienne (daughter of Marianne Watt) were killed by Manuel in 1956, could not be found. The brothers have said that the production would re-open old wounds. They contacted the production team who listened to their comments, but the brothers claim it was to no avail; “We asked ITV to scrap it. The producers did listen to what we had to say but by this point it was too little, too late. It was obvious they had no intention of pulling the plug.”

Production

Many locations across Glasgow (including the Victoria Infirmary) and the Central Belt of Scotland were used in filming. Some parts were even filmed in Compston's home town of

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

. Dunlop in East Ayrshire was also used for the home of the detective Muncie and the police station (outside entrance). Albion Automotive disused office in Scotstoun was used for scenes in the inside of the police station.

Culture Secretary The secretary of state for digital, culture, media and sport, also referred to as the culture secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with overall responsibility for strategy and policy across the Department f ...

, Fiona Hyslop, confirmed that the Scottish Government would be contributing £250,000 towards the production. She announced this on the opening day at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2016.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, id=6131920, title=In Plain Sight 2016 Scottish television series debuts 2016 Scottish television series endings 2010s British crime drama television series 2010s British television miniseries 2010s Scottish television series English-language television shows ITV crime dramas Serial killers in television Television series by ITV Studios Television series by World Productions Television series set in the 1950s Television shows set in Glasgow