On 2025-04-03 12:38 AM, Adam H. Kerman wrote:
Starting in 2000, ITV began producing miniseries on notorious British murders. Des (2020) was the ninth such miniseries.
Stars David Tennant as Dennis Nilson who was said to have looked
remarkably like the real killer, playing 12 years younger. Utterly
bizarre crimes. The killer claimed to have formed a fascination with
death when shown his deceased grandfather in an open coffin but told he
was sleeping. He found he had a knack for luring lonely young gay men
back to his apartment just by showing a bit of empathy or being nice,
using his "Des" persona. In reality, he was a loner. At one point, he
was a police officer.
All victims were male but not all were gay men. One was a boy, age 12.
The crimes took place starting in 1978. Years later, with modern DNA techniques, 12 victims were identified.
He never had sex with the men and apparently strangled them claiming he
was afraid of being left alone. But then he sat their corpses in a
chair, stripped nude, keeping company with them for a few days. Then the remains were cut up and buried beneath the floorboards and in the garden
out back.
He called attention to the crimes himself by complaining of clogged
drains (with human skelatal remains) and police were called. He then confessed but claimed not to remember victims names. Perhaps he
remembered killing 15 but the coronor thought there could have been
remains of as many as 20.
He was caught in 1983,
David Tennant created a monster in a great performance.
Daniel Mays plays DCI Peter Jay, constantly having a cliched fight with police bosses who reigned the case in, concerned about embarassment and budget. This made it too much like fictional murder stories
Actually, it makes the case remarkably realistic. Douglas Murray - and
there are others who've echoed this - has pointed out that some police departments have not solved a single burglary in two or three years
while arresting any number of people for using "hurty words" online.
More to the point, any number of commentators have pointed out that the grooming gangs scandal, which has gone on for some 30 years in places
like Rotherham, was almost entirely ignored by police for fear of being labelled racist in certain ethnic communities. (The vast majority of
victims were young white girls while the vast majority of groomers were Pakistani-born Muslim men.)
Nilsen's biographer Brian Masters, played by Jason Watkins, became an important character in the story.
No US broadcast; borrowed the DVD from the library.
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Rhino
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