disembowelling and burning of his organs had ceased a century earlier. It was not until the Forfeiture Act of 1870 His attorneys argued in court that Hamm’s veins were too damaged for injection access due to past drug use and lymphatic cancer treatment. However, the lethal injection attempt was carried out and called off when Hamm began to bleed from his groin. Police are called by an hysterical mother saying that her 13 year old daughter had disappeared from the tiny English hamlet of Scardale in which they lived.

Decades later Bennett finally tells his story to journalist Catherine Heathcote, but just when the book is poised for publication, he unaccountably tries to pull the plug. He has new information that he refuses to divulge, new information which threatens the very foundations of his existence. Catherine is forced to reinvestigate the past, with results that turn the world upside down. Coastal is based in the north-east and it was lovely for me to use locations which are familiar and nostalgic, such as Nenthead Mines. He insists that Heathcote withdraw the book from publication, but offers no specific reasons. Bennett even offers to repay the entire advance himself. First had been Pauline Catherine Reade. Dark-haired and hazel-eyed, sixteen years old, a trainee confectioner from Gorton, Manchester. Slim build, about five feet tall, wearing a pink and gold dress and a pale-blue coat. Just before eight on Friday, 12th July, she had walked out of the terraced house where she lived with her parents and her younger brother to go to a twist dance. She was never seen again. There had been no trouble at home or at work. She had no boyfriend to fall out with. She had no money to run away with, even if she'd wanted to. The area had been extensively searched and three local reservoirs drained, all without a trace of Pauline. Manchester police had followed up every report of a sighting, but none had led them to the vanished girl. To make the action work on screen, he turned the journalist, Catherine, into a documentary maker. That meant we had to make multiple films - one set in 1963, one today, one of Catherine's documentary and one of a “home” cine film - and blend them all together seamlessly.

Hawkin lives at the Manor House in Scardale with his wife Ruth (Emma Cunniffe) and stepdaughter Alison (Poppy Goodburn). Murder in a small, traditional English country town set in both the 1960s and modern day. And there's always a cup of tea to be had. I appreciate a writer who understands the importance of tea! ;)

Alternating timelines - the 'go to' plot device that the people who make TV love - and people who watch TV hate! But in this case, it works well and actually makes sense. Also - it's not too confusing for the viewer! Not, George noticed, a Hawkin. He filed the inconsistency away for later inspection. 'Surely people must leave, to get married, to get work?'The Tyburn gallows were last used on 3 November 1783, when John Austin, a highwayman, was hanged; after this, executions were moved to Newgate prison.