ITV’s A Confession writer admits show’s ‘odd’ ending isn’t what he expected after grieving mothers fail to unite over shared ordeal
ITV’s A Confession writer has admitted the show’s ‘odd’ ending wasn't what he expected after the grieving mothers failed to unite after losing daughters to the same killer.
The drama detailed the real life murders of Sian O'Callaghan and Becky Godden-Edwards, with Christopher Halliwell being found guilty of killing both women.
Their deaths left their mums Elaine and Karen devastated, but the series ended with them walking in different directions, their grief not being something they felt able to share with one another.
Writer Jeff Pope explained to The Sun Online and other media at a screening before the series started: "They had both gone through the same but slightly different, in that it was very current and present for Elaine and Karen's was long and drawn out.
"But they had both lost their daughters to the same killer and they lived very close to each other but they grieved so differently that they could never quite come together.
“I thought that would be the story, I thought there is these two women who live a couple of yards from each other, you can see each other’s houses from their houses and they would come together and support each other but they didn’t because of how different they were as characters, so dramatically I always found it fascinating.”
While 22-year-old Sian's body was found in March 2011, four days after she went missing from her hometown of Swindon, Halliwell wasn't found guilty of murdering Becky until a retrial in September 2016.
The delay was caused by the fact Detective Steve Fulcher - played by Martin Freeman in the series - hadn't cautioned Halliwell and denied him access to a solicitor before he confessed to the crimes.
While the series saw Becky's mum Karen (Imelda Staunton) reach out to Elaine (Siobhan Finneran) on a number of occasions after justice was finally served for Becky, Elaine refused to meet saying: "I just can't. It's too close."
Director Paul Williams added at the screening: “It looks like the sort of thing that you would imagine we would make up for dramatic effect and your like ‘Well actually no, it is real and it’s genuine and it is quite odd’.
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“There was a point where we thought that they actually did come together at the end and have a hug and talking about it with one of the mum’s and they were like, ‘No that didn’t happen.’
“So you take that away and there was no culmination of the two. But in a way for me, that is equally as interesting to see, it just wasn’t meant to be.
"You don’t have to be friends with anyone. Grief is quite personal in terms with how you deal with that.”
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