Comedy writing duo Andy Kinnear (Writer/Editor) and Céin McGillicuddy (Writer/Director) have created a new satirical true crime documentary parody, Sexy Murder, which spoofs hit reality crime documentary series such as Netflix’s Making a Murderer, the Serial podcast series and landmark HBO documentary series The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst.
The 30-minute stand-alone episode is due to be released on BBC iPlayer Tuesday 13th December and was produced by prolific independent company, Roughcut TV. This is the second time creatives Andy Kinnear and Céin McGillicuddy have collaborated with Roughcut TV, the first being their cult BBC cop-show comedy Top Coppers in 2015, which they also co-wrote and edited/directed respectively.
Sexy Murder follows American documentary filmmaker ‘Christoph Spinetti’ (played by Rich Fulcher, best known for his role as Bob Fossil in The Mighty Boosh) on his quest for truth. According to Spinetti: “True crime documentary requires just three things. The truth, a crime, and a documentary. I bring at least two of these”. Nick Mohammed and Shaun Williamson also star.
In his attempts to prove a man innocent, Spinetti’s wild speculation and ‘sexing up’ of crucial evidence instead serve only to directly pervert the course of justice, all in a bid to make the coolest, sexiest documentary possible. Critiquing true crime documentaries in an affectionately mocking and hilarious way,Sexy Murder throws the common techniques employed by these filmmakers under the microscope, highlighting how they are sometimes dramatically heightened or incredibly biased to attract viewers. With its use of dramatic comedy and intriguing characters, the show often raises the question, “where is the moral line around these investigative intrusions?”
Kinnear and McGillicuddy said: “We love the true crime documentary genre, it’s ridiculously entertaining. But that’s what we found so fascinating. Documentaries should really be impartial and factual, but often you’re subliminally made to think ‘Listen to that villainous music, he blatantly did it’ or ‘Look at all the carefully chosen footage of this guy smiling with his family, he can’t be a murderer!’. Sometimes entertainment takes precedence over objectivity. So, consciously or not, true crime documentaries are often in the business of making murder sexy.”
