Longford's fight for Moors killer to be TV drama

Published on Thursday 2 March 2006 02:23

THEY are iconic images of evil - the emotionless faces of child-killers Myra Hindley and Ian Brady.

Now, 40 years after their conviction for murder, the pair are being brought to life for a controversial Channel 4 drama.

Longford, starring Jim Broadbent in the title role and Samantha Morton and Andy Serkis as the Moors Murderers, follows the 30 years in which the peer tried to win parole for Hindley, who he believed felt remorse.

Lord Longford died in 2001 aged 95, without achieving his aim. Hindley died of pneumonia the following year, aged 60.

At first, Morton, 28, felt the prospect of playing Hindley was so repugnant she could not read the script. But she later accepted, saying: "I believe it is my duty as a performer to raise things we're afraid to look at."