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Channel 4’s new four-part crime drama Deceit is a unique account of the police investigation into the devastating murder of Rachel Nickell in 1992.
Set in the early 90s and focusing on ‘Operation Edzell’, the series explores one of the UK’s largest and most catastrophic police operations from a ‘Lizzie James’ feminist perspective, an undercover officer tasked with forming a relationship with then suspect Colin Stagg, who was wrongly accused of Nickell’s murder.
“True Crime can be quite misogynistic in that it doesn’t often embrace the female perspective, with women generally being the victims,” Caroline Hollick, director of dramaturgy for Channel 4, told RadioTimes.com and other media. “But this is where Deceit is so different from the other real crimes you see on other channels; Emilie [di Girolamo]The incredibly powerful sense of the importance of the female voice in this show really made it stand out.
Starring Niamh Algar, Nathaniel Martello-White, Line of Duty star Rochenda Sandall and Eddie Marsan, the four-part drama “enters a dysfunctional world, where a female undercover agent codenamed ‘Lizzie James’ is invited to become sex bait for a suspected killer, ”according to the synopsis.
But what is the real story behind Deceit, and who was undercover agent “Lizzie James”?
Is the deception based on a true story?
Yes, Channel 4’s drama Deceit was inspired by an actual covert honey trap operation, known at the time as Operation Edzell. The drama is based on real events, extensive research and interviews.
The operation was at the heart of the high-pressure police investigation into the devastating murder of 23-year-old Rachel Nickell on July 15, 1992. Nickell, a mother-of-one, was killed in broad daylight at Wimbledon Common, where she walked with his two-year-old son, Alexander Louis.
In an exclusive column for RadioTimes.com, series writer Emilia di Girolamo recently shared how Deceit questions the story of a real honey trap operation, Operation Edzell, which went horribly wrong.
“Portrayed from a unique female perspective, that of the undercover officer codenamed ‘Lizzie James’ (played by Niamh Algar), Deceit examines the complicated and toxic sexual politics of the early’ 90s, the obsession with the police for the wrong man and the devastating impact on everyone involved, ”she wrote.
She continued, “With twists and turns as surprising as Line of Duty’s fictional infiltration stories, I had no doubt this real story would keep viewers enthralled.”
Who was the undercover agent “Lizzie James” and where is she now?
‘Lizzie James’ (code name) was an undercover police officer tasked with forming a relationship with Colin Stagg, who at the time was the prime suspect in the Rachel Nickell murder investigation.
As writer Emilia di Girolamo writes for RadioTimes.com, “Lizzie James” has been invited to become a sex bait, and has been “styled, trained and endowed with a weird satanic story specially crafted … to appeal to what the police believed Rachel Nickell’s killer wanted ”.
During the sting operation, the real “Lizzie James” attempted to obtain a confession from Stagg by describing violent sexual fantasies. In released police tapes, she said: “If only you had committed the murder at Wimbledon Common, if only you had killed her, everything would be fine,” to which he replied: “I’m terribly sorry, but I ‘t.
However, the police were wrong: Colin Stagg was innocent. As Di Girolamo explains, “‘Lizzie’ was encouraged to verbally push further and further in her interactions with Stagg – whom she believed to be a violent killer – the toll on her own sanity and well-being was devastating.
There is currently a lifetime anonymity order preventing disclosure of “Lizzie James” true identity; In Channel 4’s Deceit, the character’s backstory and personal life (including her name, Sadie Byrne) are entirely fictional.
Is the office sexism in Deceit based on real life?
While we may not get to know the experiences of the real ‘Lizzie James’, Channel 4’s drama Deceit takes place against the backdrop of ‘boy culture’ and is grounded in ‘the complicated and toxic sex politics of the early’ 90s. “. according to the synopsis.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other outlets, Niamh Algar describes the “familiar” everyday sexism that his character Sadie / ‘Lizzie’ encounters in and outside the office throughout all four parts.
Channel 4
“It’s interesting to see him again,” she said. “And Emilie [di Girolamo] created this… amazing scene at the start [of the series] where you see, it’s almost like Sadie is presented as the officer – like the detective – and the subtext between Sadie and Rochenda [Sandall]the character of ‘s says it all. They don’t need to say a single piece of dialogue, but I think every woman who watches it will understand what that feeling is. And it is the power not to have anything to say, but also to have lived it and to live it again. I think this [show] the fact, does it highlight the sexism to which women are subjected and the pressures they are under. “
Who murdered Rachel Nickell?
Rachel Nickell’s real killer was Robert Napper, who “had long-standing mental health issues rooted in the trauma of his own childhood, which reportedly resulted in more than a hundred violent sexual assaults on women and three gruesome murders, ”Deceit said. screenwriter Emilia di Girolamo.
She adds: “Catastrophic and systematic police breaches have caused Napper to escape detection on several occasions and when he killed Rachel another innocent man, Colin Stagg, became the sole focus of the police investigation. .
Colin Stagg (played in the Zion television series Daniel Young) has been falsely charged with the murder of Rachel Nickell and has spent more than a year in custody. The case against him was dismissed in 1994, after Judge Ognall excluded evidence of Operation Edzell from the trial. Stagg would then claim compensation from the Metropolitan Police.
Speaking to RadioTimes.com and other outlets, executive producer David Nath revealed that Colin Stagg collaborated in real life on the Channel 4 drama Deceit “because he wanted the definitive story … which tells the rest of the world that he is and was an innocent man “.
“We deliberately started the beginning of the story, six or seven months after the murder of Rachel Nickell… we were focusing on the investigation and not dwelling on the crime.
“You know, you talk to people now, and, and you mentioned Colin Stagg’s name, and a lot of people still say, ‘Oh Colin Stagg, that was the person who was convicted of Rachel’s murder. [Nickell], and you say, ‘No he wasn’t.’ And so we have to be very careful when making this series that we don’t reinforce some of the misinformation that already exists about Colin. And I think, you know, that’s one of the reasons Colin collaborated with us, because he wanted the definitive story that tells the rest of the world that he is and that he was a man. innocent.
The four-part drama series Deceit begins Friday, August 13 at 9 p.m. on Channel 4. All four episodes will be immediately available on All4 after the first episode airs.
While you wait, take a look at our TV guide for inspiration or check out the rest of our dramatic coverage.
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