Why ‘The Puppet Master’ on Netflix Should Be Your Next True Crime Fix

Netflix’s tendency to wring every last drop of blood out of a true crime has recently become more exhausting than exhaustive. Sure, we were all gripped by every minute detail in the original Making a Murderer, when the deep dive approach was still something of a novelty. But now that a similarly jaw-dropping tale is dropping practically every week, the idea of trawling through hours and hours of meandering footage to get to the crux is now about as welcome as a Ken Kratz text message.  

Yet there are signs that Netflix are finally realizing that when it comes to the world of armchair detectives, sometimes less is more. Last month’s Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer wrapped up the fascinatingly gruesome story of Richard Cottingham in just three episodes. And now Brit-centric The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman covers its despicable subject in the same number, one of which clocks in at just 28 minutes. 

It’s ironic, then, that the bizarre yet truly heinous crimes of Robert Hendy-Freegard could actually merit at least a few more hours’ coverage. The production team behind Don’t F*** with Cats: Hunting the Internet Killer entirely ignored much of his lengthy rap sheet, with one of the most startling developments barely mentioned in passing toward the final minutes. However, the three cases primarily focused on still provide more than enough twists and turns to keep the overly catered for hooked.  

Puppet Master initially centers on Sophie and Jake, two young siblings desperate to wrestle their mother Sandra – who they’ve been estranged from for seven years – from the clutches of the boyfriend who wickedly turned her against them. Often addressing the camera directly, the pair’s vivid recollections of Freegard’s cruel mind games and pathological need for control – Jake would frequently be locked outside the family home, while Sophie was forced to hand over every penny to her name – undoubtedly make for heart-breaking listening. 

But it’s when the narrative flips to another of Freegard’s many past lives that things take a turn for the kind of WTF that defined the likes of Abducted in Plain Sight, Evil Genius and, of course, Don’t F*** with Cats. Thankfully, we don’t get anything quite as disturbing as the latter’s snuff films. We do get a ‘truth is stranger than fiction’ plot, though, involving a trio of gullible agricultural students, an M15 imposter and an ‘on the run’ which would even impress El Chapo. 

As the documentary explores using a mix of talking heads, shadowy reenactments and archival news footage, Freegard lived out his 007 fantasies by posing as a secret agent investigating an IRA cell. Not only did the scammer convince one man, John Atkinson, that his housemate was a member, he also got him to act as an “informant”: with an understandable degree of embarrassment Atkinson recalls on camera how he willingly submitted to a physical beating to prove his loyalty to the cause. 

The plot thickened when Atkinson, believing he and his two other housemates’ lives were in danger from a terrorist attack, roped them in for a road trip alongside mastermind Freegard which subsequently lasted far beyond the intended two weeks. In one of many startling reveals, it’s disclosed the student had sold the idea as a farewell tour after claiming to have been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

Of course, this impromptu vacation soon turned into a nightmare as all parties became aware of “the truth,” and subsequently went into self-imposed exile over an IRA threat that only Freegard knew was entirely non-existent. Sarah Smith, the second victim interviewed, often struggles to hold back the tears while recalling the horrors and hardships that followed as well as the emotional and financial turmoil she put her parents through. 

Surprisingly, it’s Smith’s father who’s most likely to become the hero of the series. With a painstaking attention to detail and dogged determination to discover the motives behind his daughter’s mysterious behavior, amateur sleuth Peter is shown in flashback recreations putting most officials to shame. “You can’t be angry though, she’s part of your family” the elderly farmer tearfully states from the comfort of his country house armchair (strangely most interviewees appear to be regaling their story from an abandoned warehouse). Not every parent would be so forgiving.  

Indeed, as with most of the batshit insane subgenre of true crime, Puppet Master will leave you wondering just how so many seemingly intelligent people were taken in by such obvious lies. Covered in the final and most compelling episode, the daughter of an American lottery winner – whose tale concludes with a nail-biting sting operation captured on CCTV – also somehow fell under Freegard’s spell. And when you finally hear his weedy, uncharismatic voice, recorded while pleading with the in-laws for ‘spy school’ expenses, the answer seems even more out of reach. 

Perhaps the upcoming big screen adaptation of the whole saga will provide more of an explanation, although the casting of handsome 007 hopeful James Norton suggests Freegard is going to be a little more charitable toward its subject than he deserves. But for now, Puppet Master is a highly watchable version of events which refreshingly avoids stringing you along. 

Jon O’Brien (@jonobrien81) is a freelance entertainment and sports writer from the North West of England. His work has appeared in the likes of Vulture, Esquire, Billboard, Paste, i-D and The Guardian.