I met Dennis Nilsen – he was articulate, witty, hard-working… and as morally mad as possible
WHEN actor David Tennant moved from Scotland to a flat in London’s Crouch End, his flatmate gave him a book to read.
It was Killing For Company, by Brian Masters, the definitive story of serial killer Dennis Nilsen, who strangled and dismembered at least 12 young men in the same area between 1978 and 1983.
Nilsen was caught when drains became blocked with human remains. He was convicted, aged 37, of six murders and two attempted murders.
David, 49, said: “I remember reading it and just being appalled and intrigued.”
Tonight the star returns play Nilsen, who died in prison in 2018, in new ITV drama Des.
Here author Brian, a consultant on the three-part series, writes exclusively for The Sun about his long-standing dealings with the lonely civil servant who kept the
The prisoner put in a visiting order in my name. It took the governor some weeks to realise what I was up to, but he seemed to think the visits helped to keep his prisoner calm.
“You must not steal their identities,” he said.
“I did that when I took their lives. You are doing it again. At least let them retain the dignity of their name.”
That gave me uneasy pause. As did the jury’s conclusion that he was sane.
In the morning, Nilsen would turn down the heat beneath the pan in which was simmering the head of a man he had briefly known, take the dog for a walk, check the heat again, butter a slice of toast and eat it.
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That may denote sanity, as legally defined, but at the same time he was as morally mad as it is possible to be.
- Killing For Company, by Brian Masters, is re-published by Arrow on Thursday. Des starts on ITV tomorrow night at 9pm.
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