TVREAL
ITV has lined up the new docuseries The Undercover Police Scandal: Love and Lies Exposed to premiere on ITV1 and ITVX in the early part of this year, with All3Media International taking it global under the title Deep Deception.
The series takes a deep dive into the secret unit of undercover police who were paid to spy on ordinary members of the public for over 40 years, stealing the identities of deceased children to create new aliases and deceiving more than 60 women into deeply intimate relationships and even fathering children with them. Five of these women speak together on camera for the first time to highlight their stories.
It also features access to the Guardian journalists who, alongside the women at the heart of the scandal, broke the story.
The three-parter comes from RAW (The Tinder Swindler, The Puppet Master: Hunting The Ultimate Conman, American Nightmare, Parole, London Bridge: Facing Terror). Lucy Wilcox (Kate Garraway: Derek’s Story) directs the series.
“This is an inspirational, empowering story about women who refused to go away quietly, instead using their ingenuity and tenacity to expose the lies they’d been told by the men they loved, leading to a David vs Goliath battle with the Metropolitan Police,” said Rebecca North, executive producer at RAW. “We hope it brings awareness to the scandal.”
Jo Clinton-Davis, controller of factual at ITV, added, “When I first learned about this story, I was determined it needed to be made for a TV audience—and made for ITV. That these five women finally agreed to give ITV and RAW up close and personal access is testament to their courage and resilience. They have been up against a state-sponsored operation, and with many of them turning detective, such a twist in the story could be the stuff of a thriller—except this is all too shockingly true. Another British scandal of major importance.”
The women who feature in the series commented, “We’ve been working together to expose this policing scandal since we first met in 2011. Our lives were devastated by the actions of undercover police, and this powerful documentary highlights how we fought back against dehumanizing spycops’ intrusion and abuse, which was sanctioned by the state for decades to undermine progressive campaigns for change.
“By shining a light on the role of these undemocratic, secret, political policing units, we hope the series is part of a dramatic shift away from the culture of misogyny that the police and security services have normalized and puts pressure on decision-makers to reverse the current legislation that places undercover officers completely beyond the law.”
