Guardian Blogs: OrganGrinderMcCann doco tugs at the heart stringsCaitlin Fitzsimmons
Wednesday 30 April 2008 08.00 BST
guardian.co.uk
Kate and Gerry McCann in the ITV documentary. Photograph: PA
As the first anniversary of the disappearance of their daughter rolls around, Kate and Gerry McCann will be everywhere this week.
An emotionally charged doco on the McCanns' harrowing year screens on ITV tonight. At two hours, it's quite long - but it's also a moving piece of television.
Madeleine, One Year On: Campaign for Change is on the flagship channel at 8pm tonight, up against Traffic Cops and The Apprentice on the BBC.
It's different from what's been done before because of the unprecedented access the filmmakers had to the McCanns. The couple speak about their grief and guilt and - yes - there are tears.
I was struck by the images of the different boxes to sort the vast volumes of mail received from the public - "ideas", "nutty" and "nasty". One Christmas card said their "brat" had died because of their "drunken arrogance" and cursed the family to "suffer forever".
Part of me was a little uncomfortable with dredging up the whole story again. Kate and Gerry clearly still feel that putting their daughter's face out there yet again might throw up some new leads. They also want to bolster their campaign for a pan-European fast response system for suspected abductions modelled on the US Amber Alerts system.
As well as the documentary, they have agreed a deal with celebrity magazine Hello, giving an interview in return for a series of articles about the abduction alert campaign in all international editions.
I felt the portrait of the family was overwhelmingly sympathetic. The film was shown to the McCanns prior to public release and they were happy with the result. However, ITV says the producers retained complete editorial control and no money changed hands, save the £10,000 the broadcaster had already contributed to the Find Madeleine fund.
Was the producer/director Emma Loach too close to the story? She has admitted to reporters that as a mother she was emotionally involved and frankly, it's the emotion that makes this doco work.
But one year one, many people will have had their fill of the McCann saga. Will any viewers tune in?
