Featured Image Credit: Channel 4
Topics: True Crime, Channel 4, Documentaries, TV And Film
Jess Hardiman
Topics: True Crime, Channel 4, Documentaries, TV And Film
Viewers are all saying the same thing after tuning in to a new Channel 4 true crime documentary, which follows the story of a serial killer known as ‘The Serpent’.
Charles Sobhraj, 79, is thought to have killed at least 20 backpackers during the 1970s, targeting a number of travellers along the hippie backpack trail of India, Nepal and Thailand.
He was jailed for 19 years in Nepal after killing two North Americans, but was freed in December 2022 on account of both his age and good behaviour.
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Sobraj - whose story was turned into a 2021 BBC drama called The Serpent - had also previously spend two decades in jail in India after poisoning a bus full of French tourists.
Now he has become the subject of a brand new Channel 4 docu-series, which premiered last night and continues over the next two evenings.
Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer sees Sobhraj himself agreeing to psychological and criminal interrogations about murders he has never been tried for, having confessed to 10 killings in a 1977 book, only to later withdraw the confessions.
In a bid to determine whether or not he is a psychopath who presents a danger to the public, leading forensic psychologist Paul Britton conducts hours of interviews with the serial killer, while former senior Metropolitan Police detectives Jackie Malton and Gary Copson interview key protagonists and witnesses.
After the first episode aired yesterday, many viewers found themselves saying the same thing about Sobhraj, who had kicked things off by telling filmmakers they could ask him anything.
One person tweeted: “Can ask me any question he said at the start. He hasn’t answered one question #TheRealSerpent.”
Another agreed: “You can ask me any question”... *interrupts continually*.”
Someone else said: “He's managing to say nothing whilst never shutting up.”
And a fourth added: “With a guy like this the questions have to be quick and short , cos he [definitely] wants to control the narrative #TheRealSerpent.”
But while some viewers felt frustrated by Sobhraj's input, there's arguably no denying the docu-series marks incredible access to such an infamous name.
Promoting the new project on Twitter, Shaminder Nahal, Head of Specialist Factual at Channel 4, said: "Don’t miss this tonight at 9pm -#TheRealSerpent - extraordinary access to Charles Sobhraj - trying to get to truth of his alleged crimes - a unique and ground-breaking series from @MonsterFilmsUK."
"It was excellent! Well done all," someone else replied.
Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer continues tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm.