Netflix probes Madeleine McCann disappearance in new documentary

It could be a picture of Madeleine

ID INVESTIGATES CASE OF MISSING TODDLER IN ALL-NEW SPECIAL, “MADELEINE MCCANN: AN ID MURDER MYSTERY”

Two-Part Special Event Premieres Sunday, April 7 at 9/8c, Exclusively on ID

“The disappearance of Madeline McCann is every parent’s true life, nightmare: your little daughter is snatched from your hotel room in a foreign country, vanishing seemingly into thin air,” said Henry Schleiff.

(Silver Spring, MD) – For Kate and Gerry McCann, the night of May 3, 2007 was the day their dream Portugal vacation turned into a living nightmare. This infamous night was when their 3-year-old daughter, Madeleine, vanished from their hotel room just yards from where the young parents were dining. Convinced she was kidnapped from her bed, the McCanns desperately plead for Madeleine’s safe return, sparking a worldwide manhunt. But as international authorities ramped up their efforts, a veil of suspicion was cast on everyone by law enforcement and loved ones alike. Ten years following her shocking disappearance, Investigation Discovery (ID) examines what really happened to Madeleine McCann that fateful night in the two-hour special event, MADELEINE MCCANN: AN ID MURDER MYSTERY premiering Sunday, April 7 at 9/8c.

“The disappearance of Madeleine McCann is every parent’s true life, nightmare: your little daughter is snatched from your hotel room in a foreign country, vanishing seemingly into thin air,” said Henry Schleiff, Group President of Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, American Heroes Channel and Destination America. “Someone out there knows what really happened to Madeleine McCann, which is why we are eager to engage our passionate viewers in helping us to bring renewed attention to this heartbreaking case and, hopefully, find justice for Madeleine, once and for all.”

The latest installment from ID’s breakout MURDER MYSTERY franchise, MADELEINE MCCANN examines the case from top to bottom, dissecting the timeline leading up to Madeleine’s disappearance and the subsequent actions taken by law enforcement and loved ones alike to find her. The mini-series features all-new and exclusive interviews with key players in the investigation, including members of law enforcement, the McCann’s legal team, and a flurry of criminal experts and journalists who followed the case from the very beginning.

MADELEINE MCCANN: AN ID MURDER MYSTERY is produced for ID by American Media, Inc. and Jupiter Entertainment with Allison Wallach, Tim McConville, David Pecker, and Dylan Howard as Executive Producers. For Investigation Discovery, Pamela Deutsch is senior executive producer, Sara Kozak is senior vice president of production, Kevin Bennett is general manager, and Henry Schleiff is Group President of Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, American Heroes Channel and Destination America.

HKP wrote:Isn't it just amazing that the Netflix documentary is '''dropping' just 3 episodes into the Australian 9 podcasts. You'd almost think this was some sort of reaction but that would be seen as some nutty conspiracy

Doug D wrote:I think they're probably all there.

1. The Beneath Truth
2. Person of Interest
3. Pact of Silence
4. Heaven and Earth 
5. The Fightback
6. Dark Places
7. Truth and Lies
8. Somebody Knows

HKP wrote:Synopsis (from the episodes)
Part 1: gives the general Madeleine went missing etc.
Part 2: while the investigation into Madeleine's disapearance continues, the police begin to suspect that a helpful onlooker may be hiding something
Part 3: as the Portuguese police face increased media scrutiny, the Mccanns find their account of the night of Madeleine's disappearance called into question.
Part 4: the use of forensic dogs at the crime scene leads the investigators in a new direction. Later an allegation rocks Gerry and Kate McCann.
Part 5: as the world turns against them, the McCanns receive some support. Also a change in leadership shakes up the investigation.
Part 6: private investigators reinvigorate the search for Madeleine. An FBI sketch artist takes another attempt at drawing the chief suspect.
Part 7: the search for Madeleine takes investigators down a dark path. The McCanns battle Goncalo Amaral in court.
Part 8: the media is taken to task for ethical missteps. Despite it being more than a decade since Madeleine was last seen, the McCanns remain fueled by hope

Just to be clear the above synopsis for the episodes are copied from the episodes apart from part 1 which was introductory and long winded so I shortened.

ufercoffy wrote:

Er...anyone who was 80% certain they'd identified the abductor as Gerry McCann (or even 60% - 80% certain), as the Smiths claimed to have done, would NOT...

Doug D wrote:Still got 4 episodes to watch, but this is The Telegraph’s review of the whole thing:
 
The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, Netflix, review: bloated and manipulative, this documentary series tells us nothing new
 
Ed Power 15^thMarch 2019, 6.22pm
 
The controversy swirling around Netflix’s Madeleine McCann documentaryin the end has proved more sensational than what has reached the screen. Delays and reports of wrangling behind the scenes raised the possibility of explosive new revelations as the streaming service applied the true crime formula pioneered by Making a Murdererto the mystery of the little girl who vanished from an Algarve holiday apartment in May 2007 as her parents enjoyed a meal with friends 100 yards away.
 
Alas, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCannsimply confirms that the true crime genre has become prisoner to its crassest tendencies. The eight-part series is somehow at once overwrought and melodramatic and also crashingly turgid. Kate and Gerry McCann refused to participate and are said to have urged friends likewise to decline director Chris Smith’s advances. It’s hard not to see why. 
This is exploitative filmmaking on auto-pilot – a box-ticking re-hashing of the case garlanded with a few vague intimations of sinister figures who might (or might not) have had something to do with the disappearance. At eight hours, it is furthermore far too long, with aimless detours into the historical roots of tourism in the Algarve and the spread of paedophile rings throughout Europe. 
Without the McCanns, Smith (director of Netflix’s excellent recent Fyredocumentary) casts about widely for focus. He draws his sights on the Portuguese police, whose paranoia is eclipsed only by their anarchic investigation techniques. Their theory that Madeleine’s parents had been drugging and accidentally overdosed their daughter is debunked. But only after Smith cynically leads us to believe the authorities are indeed justified in briefly naming Kate an official suspect. 
 
It’s horribly manipulative. “I probably didn’t really like him. It wasn’t a warm engagement,” says Jim Gamble, former chief executive of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, of his first encounter with buttoned-down Gerry. Later Gamble recalls giving the father a pep talk in which he declares that whoever knows something about the disappearance should come forward while they have a chance (nudge, nudge Gerry). Gamble at this point is explicitly portrayed as suspecting the parents – a distrust that we are encouraged to share. 
 
Yet, in the next episode, the rug appears to be pulled away, though it would be a spoiler to reveal exactly how. Suffice it to say that beneath the glossy production values – endless languid shots of the Praia da Luz resort start to feel inappropriate given the subject matter – Smith has stooped to the tawdriest bait and switch. The only intention is keeping us glued.  
 
More than 40 individuals were reportedly interviewed but, for the most part, it is the same parade of talking heads. Gamble pops up repeatedly, as do Looking For Madeleine authors Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan and former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie. Later we are introduced to Brian Kennedy, the double-glazing millionaire swooping in as the McCanns’s benefactor. The closest to a villain is Gonçalo Amara, the Portuguese police chief who wrote a self-justifying book pinning Madeleine’s fate on the McCanns. 
 
A bigger issue is sheer over-familiarity. Among Netflix’s international subscriber base the basic facts of the case may be fresh and gripping. To anyone who has lived with the story since 2007, the déjà-vu soon becomes exhausting.
And yet, there’s nothing else – no compelling theories, no new witnesses or evidence. The final episode dissolves into a gossipy hit-parade of weirdos, reprobates and spectres allegedly sighted in the vicinity of the McCanns’s apartment in the hours around Madeleine’s disappearance. However, there’s no substance – or even intelligent conjecture: the presumption, never stated out loud, is that child traffickers were probably responsible for the abduction. The closest to a concrete conclusion is Gamble’s belief that the truth about Madeleine will come out in his lifetime. Viewers may wish they had followed the example of the McCanns and steered clear. 
 
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/disappearance-madeleine-mccann-netflix-review-bloated-manipulative/

Dannz wrote:

Er...anyone who was 80% certain they'd identified the abductor as Gerry McCann (or even 60% - 80% certain), as the Smiths claimed to have done, would NOT...

That doesn’t strictly follow. It is possible, for example, that after reporting this to Leicestershire Police on 20 September, the Smiths were coerced or bribed in some way.