Chilling true mistaken identity case that inspired Hunting Alice Bell

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08:57, Wed, Nov 11, 2026 Updated: 09:06, Wed, Nov 11, 2026 For women wrongly identified as serial killer's girlfriend Maxine Carr, rumours about their identity brought frightening…

For women wrongly identified as serial killer's girlfriend Maxine Carr, rumours about their identity brought frightening consequences. Their experiences stayed with writer David Baddiel and helped inspire Channel 4's new psychological thriller, Hunting Alice Bell. The six-part series begins tonight, November 11, and follows a wife and mother whose life unravels when she is accused of being a serial killer's accomplice living under a new identity. Although its central characters are fictional, the drama draws on real incidents involving women with no connection to Carr.

Alex Roach plays Fran Da Silva, who finds herself accused of being Alice Bell, the partner of serial killer Dr Jason Nash, played by Simon Pegg. Alice fabricated evidence that allowed Nash's murder spree to continue. As Fran tries to understand why she has been targeted, she discovers other women are facing the same accusation.

Alice Bell and Jason Nash are fictional, but Baddiel has revealed that the idea came from a documentary called Being Maxine Carr. Carr, the former girlfriend of murderer Ian Huntley, was imprisoned for providing him with a false alibi.

Speaking to Channel 4 ahead of the series' debut, Baddiel explained: "After Maxine Carr was released, she was given lifelong anonymity. But women with no connection to her were being targeted in small towns by people who were certain they were her, living under another name.

"There were four women in the documentary, and a couple of scenes in the show are based on what I saw. In one, a woman has just moved to a new area when rumours start. Within a couple of weeks, there's a mob in her garden, shouting at her. She comes out with her passport to prove who she is; that stayed with me."

Asked why he chose to turn the subject into a fictional drama rather than another documentary, he said: "The documentary had already been made, and it's quite chilling in itself. But it's also out of date because there was no social media in it."

He continued: "As I…

Baddie…

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