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The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann on Netflix is an eight-part docuseries that continues the public’s obsession with a three-year-old British girl who went missing twelve years ago, never to be seen again. In interviews with journalists, law enforcement and more, this series recounts the much-discussed investigation.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MADELEINE MCCANN: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: After a title card containing a police contact number for anyone with information on Madeleine McCann, we open on a shadow-y reenactment of the search-and-rescue team.
The Gist: In a highly publicized case, three-year-old Madeleine McCann vanished while on vacation with her family in Portugal 12 years ago. Her whereabouts remain unknown today. In a new, controversial eight-part Netflix series, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, filmmakers Emma Cooper and Chris Smith interview the authors of the book Looking for Madeleine, tourists staying at the resort where Madeleine disappeared, Portuguese police, journalists and more about this infamous missing child case.
Our Take: The first episode of The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann provides necessary and comprehensive backstory on Madeleine’s initial vanishing. As far as we can tell, the remaining seven episodes lay out the ensuing public and media obsession with the case, as well as the increasing tension between the law enforcement and the journalists. In an interview with The Atlantic, director Chris Smith insisted this series was not intended to be your typical Netflix true crime thriller. Instead, he said, the goal was “to take the viewer on the journey that the public went on.”
It’s a legitimate story to tell, and in a perfect world, viewers would come away reflecting on our own exploitative tendencies rather than with a new morbid fascination with the McCanns. Near the end of the first episode, we get an interview with Ernie Allen, the former head of the U.S.’s National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, about how certain missing children cases receive attention while others are ignored. This is fascinating, and by far the best part.
But the focus on minute details of the disappearance, and on the McCanns themselves—despite their refusal to participate in the project—causes the series to come off as a pot stirrer on the feverish public fascination, with no tangible new information or insights to justify its existence.
Parting Shot: We pull back on an aerial shot of the resort where Madeleine went missing, while a soundbite from a news broadcast informs us that a British man is being considered by police as a suspect in the kidnapping.
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Most Pilot-y Line: “In the end, it was the vacation that never should have happened,” says journalist Anthony Summers, co-author of the book Looking for Madeleine. We’re not sure if Summers came up with that himself or if it was fed to him by the interviewer, but either way, yikes.
Our Call: SKIP IT. At the end of the day, no matter how well-produced, this docuseries has been denounced by the only people whose obsession with Madeleine McCann is completely justified: Her parents. In a statement released via their website, Kate and Gerry McCann wrote, “We did not see and still do not see how this programme will help the search for Madeleine and, particularly given there is an active police investigation, could potentially hinder it. Consequently, our views and preferences are not reflected in the program.” Enough said.
