Good Morning Britain presenter Susanna Reid spoke to the director and actor from a new factual drama based around Madeliene McCann’s disappearance
Susanna Reid revealed that Madeleine McCann’s disappearance profoundly affected her.
The Good Morning Britain presenter was co-hosting the ITV programme with Ed Balls on Tuesday, May 19 when they interviewed the star and director behind the new Kate McCann factual drama.
Actress Laura Bayston portrays Madeleine’s mother in Channel 5’s Under Suspicion: Kate McCann, which examines the high-profile case surrounding three year old Madeleine’s disappearance from her family’s holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in the Algarve, Portugal in May 2007.
Kate and her husband Gerry McCann, who were exonerated of any involvement in 2008, became wrongly implicated in a cover-up. Kate experienced the agonising balance between cooperation and self-protection while enduring relentless hours of police interrogation.
Speaking with director Paula Wittig, mother-of-three Susanna acknowledged the case’s profound impact on her as a parent of young sons at that time, reports the Mirror.
Questioning Paula about her aims for the drama, Susanna stated: “This is such a high-profile case, I think it’s one we all remember about how it effected you personally when you found out.
“I remember I didn’t sleep for two weeks after Madeleine McCann went missing because one of my children was exactly the same age as Madeleine. I mean it was just devastating. So what do you want to convey through this drama?”
Paula replied: “We weren’t intending to retell the whole story or reinterrogate the whole case. We were very much foicused on this particular point in time and when I read the source material and when I looked through everything I felt that it had been hugely misrepresented and misunderstood and I saw an opportunity to really tell the truth about what happened also to look at it through a very human emotional lens.”
The factual drama picks up three months into the hunt for Madeleine. Portuguese police are without significant leads, concrete evidence, or any arrests.
As global scrutiny intensifies, they call in Madeleine’s mother, Kate, for questioning. In stark contrast to previous amicable exchanges, this encounter takes a confrontational tone from the outset.
When Kate questions why she is being treated in such a manner, officers inform her they do not believe her account. The drama draws upon official statements and recorded testimony, depicting Kate McCann’s interrogation as Portuguese investigators face mounting pressure to produce results.
Public sympathy has given way to suspicion as the world’s media seizes upon forensic evidence, leaked by police, which appears to implicate the McCanns. Kate now finds herself designated as an official witness.
Following eleven hours of questioning, Kate is informed that she will be formally named “arguida” – a formal suspect – the following day. Police then applied further pressure for a confession, warning that without one, she could face charges of murdering her own daughter. This bombshell not only puts Kate’s liberty at risk, but also extinguishes any remaining hope of locating Madeleine. With detectives convinced of her guilt, Kate fears the search for the true perpetrator will be abandoned.
During her final police interview, Kate rejects every accusation, responding “no comment” on the advice of her solicitor. The drama unfolds as she departs the police station, bringing viewers back to the story’s core — a mother desperately searching for her missing child.
Good Morning Britain is on ITV1 weekdays at 6am and ITVX. Under Suspicion: Kate McCann will air on Channel 5 on Wednesday May 20 at 9pm

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