These terrible events occurred long before the cliché of the murdered woman became beloved of the thriller genre. The fetishised fallen cheerleader of Twin Peaks, Laura Palmer, was, at that point, an outlier. But after the success of “dead girl” dramas such as True Detective, The Killing, Mare Of Easttown and countless others, there is a grim inevitably to The Vanishings, an appallingly crass and exploitative whodunnit loosely based on those disappearances from 30 years ago.
Allen Leech as David Burkely (Photo: Channel 5)
Immediately, the opening disclaimer of The Vanishings – that it is “inspired by real events… but not intended to be an accurate portrayal of real people or real events” – is contradicted. If you are going to repackage actual suffering as a cosy crime for a channel-surfing midweek audience, at least have the courage to own it.
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Read MoreNo such sensitivity is found in The Vanishings, which aired in Ireland last year as The Vanishing Triangle and is in juicy potboiler mode from the outset. It stars Normal People’s India Mullen as plucky journalist Lisa Wallace, whose mother was murdered 20 years earlier, and when she writes a front-page story about the ordeal, she receives a creepy card from the killer. Amidst his ramblings, he hints that he is also responsible for the abduction of Amy Reynolds (Gráinne Good) from that lonely petrol station.
Laoise Sweeney as Susan Reynolds (Photo: Channel 5)
That prejudice is reflected in the oikish cops we meet in the drama. The exception is dashing detective David Burkely – played by Downton Abbey’s Allen Leech as a thoroughly modern 21st-century dad somehow trapped in the era of Blur v Oasis.
But rather than trying to do justice to the real victims, the story spools off into noirish nonsense. There is a tacked-on subplot involving Lisa’s criminal dad. Meanwhile, the killer taunts the reporter by sending her stylishly grainy polaroids of his latest captive, which resemble outtakes from a Nine Inch Nails video.
‘The Vanishings’ is streaming on Channel 5
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