Des / TV MINI SERIES REVIEW

Three-episode British mini-series, about the arrest of the real serial killer, Dennis Nielsen, in the 1980s

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What is the plot?

In a London suburb called Muswell Hills, a plumber looking for the origin of a problem affecting the pipes of one of the houses, discovers remains of a human body outside one of the houses. The police show up at the scene and wait for the homeowner to return from work. When Dennis Nielsen arrives, he meets with the men of law, calmly invites them in and tells them where the rest of the human body is, in addition to stating that he has killed 15 people over several years. In this way they arrest a serial killer who had gone unnoticed for a long time.

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The three-part mini-series offers us the facts surrounding the arrest, interrogation and trial of this dangerous serial killer named Dennis Nielsen, who committed the murders between 1978 and 1983.

To make the mini-series he was inspired by the book Killing for Company, by the writer Brian Masters, who began his career writing about other famous writers and the British aristocracy, but when Nielsen was arrested, he became interested in writing about him. From that moment on he would forge a career writing biographies of other serial killers.

There are three main characters in the mini-series: The cop who arrested him and took over the investigation, Peter Jay. The biographer Brian Masters, who was interested in investigating the reasons why that man committed the murders and, finally, Dennis Nielsen, an ordinary looking man, someone we would never imagine to be a murderer.

Through these three characters we will enter into this story, which many may not know, about this predator that would have increased its number of victims, if it were not for the fact that by flushing human remains down the toilet, it caused the pipes to become clogged. It was by his own mistake that he was caught, the police knew nothing about the murders, even one of the victims was a foreign tourist that the police investigated for a long time without any results.

It was then that we asked ourselves, "How can this be possible? There is an answer to that, and the mini-series offers it to us at the beginning of the first episode. We have to look at the political and social context in which these murders occurred. During that time there was an economic and social crisis. Many young people were unemployed, others were homeless, a large number were drug addicts. It's the perfect target for the killers, they are the social waste that society doesn't want to see, they look the other way and nobody cares. It was in this group of people that Nielsen selected the young people who would be his victims.

Killing people who don't even care about their own relatives, young drug addicts, homeless, lazy, unemployed, some were homosexuals, as was the killer. The criminal acted with impunity. The police were not interested in solving the disappearances of drug addicts or homosexuals. We realized that Nielsen was not the only culprit, all of society was guilty.

As the story unfolds, we are shown the ineffectiveness of the police system, more concerned with finding the guilty killer as quickly as possible, avoiding digging into the other victims. They only care about not being part of the scandal that the press makes, politicians and leaders only care about reputation, not doing justice to all the victims. The policeman Peter Jay , who stands as the one who wants to do justice, is the moral character of the story.

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Des has the usual quality of British productions, three episodes that advance rapidly, without wasting time on subplots that do not provide. For example, we know that the policeman is going through a separation and that his ex-wife has his son, but he is only singled out in a couple of scenes, there are no filler scenes that exploit that part of the story. The central point is Dennis Nielsen, his relationship with the biographer and the police investigation to gather evidence for the trial.

The cast, mostly male, has three top-notch actors. To play the writer Brian Masters was selected the veteran actor Jason Watkins, a man with extensive experience in acting, both in film, theater and television. He has won many awards, including in Bafta. He plays the writer who is fascinated and terrified when he meets Dennis Nielsen. The real writer would continue to visit the killer in prison, after he was convicted.

The actor Daniel Mays plays the policeman Peter Jay, the man that destiny wanted to arrest the murderer. The actor is another well-known name in his country, he has more than 45 films and television series in his career. His performance is convincing and made me feel identified with him, with his frustration for the obstacles imposed by the very system he works for.

And the one who receives the most praise is the actor David Tennant who plays Dennis Nielsen. The prolific actor is known all over the world; he is an actor who always brings quality to everything he does. There are series or movies that I only watch when I find out he's involved. David Tennant is an all-rounder who in this mini-series is transformed into that terrifying serial killer. Each of his scenes is a marvel to watch and listen to.

With only three episodes, it's a mini-series that you can see in one day. If you like real serial killer stories, you're going to like this British production. So you find out about the whole case, how the trial ended and what happened to the three protagonists, in real life.

My Ranking: 2.9/5

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