Madeleine McCann: Entertaining The Viewers At Home
SEPARATING fact from fiction in the Madeleine McCann case is hard for some. It is what Anorak calls Faction.
As the Telegraph reports, ITV has sought to distance itself from allegations that it is cashing in on the Madeleine McCann story by broadcasting Torn, a drama about a missing girl.
A spokesman says the show was written two years ago. Readers learn that ITV offered the McCanns a chance to preview the show. Such is their celebrity.
And the show will go on.
And Anorak readers will realise that this is not the first time fiction has impacted upon fact.
Back in May, EastEnders shelved one of it plots. In the show, Dawn Swann was to have had her newborn baby taken by the wife of the baby’s father. Wife had paid mother to have the child and than found to her great horror that surrogate and husband had been having an illicit affair in hotel rooms after mother had been hired to pretend to be another man’s wife.
The BBC decided this fictional story was too close to the very real drama of Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. It would be too painful for viewers to watch.
As developments have shown, the similarities between the EastEnders plot and the McCanns ordeal cannot be overstated. Well done the BBC.
In the same month, Coronation Street cancelled a plot which saw a child taken.
Coronation Street’s producers had filmed “identical scenes” to those being played out in Portugal.
Claire and husband Ashley Peacock were appealing for help. Just like Madeleine’s parents. Claire was holding her child’s security blanket. Just like Madeleine’s mother holds the Maddy Catty. Claire was handing out pictures of her child. Just like Madeleine’s mum.
The story was cancelled. And those unable to split fact from fiction won the day. And the broadcasters got to show how much they cared and were in tune with the public’s mood.
(In Corrie, Claire was seen pushing her baby into traffic. Given the allegations now levelled against Kate McCann, would ITV now broadcast that scene?)
But now the show will go on. And will go on because we have no idea what happened to Madeleine McCann. All the hype, the marketing and the paedo-panic have failed in their stated objective: to find Madeleine.
The show goes on. So too the case…
Posted: 19th, September 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (23) | TrackBack | Permalink
