It is a grey, miserable kind of feeling that settles in when you watch a drama about something as bleak as the Moors murders. We aren’t talking about a standard "true crime" thriller here. When ITV released See No Evil: The Moors Murders back in 2006, it wasn't just another police procedural. It was a visceral, deeply uncomfortable look at a dark stain on British history. Honestly, the See No Evil The Moors Murders cast had a nearly impossible task: how do you portray Ian Brady and Myra Hindley without turning them into cartoonish movie monsters or, even worse, accidentally humanizing their unforgivable cruelty?
The miniseries focuses heavily on the perspective of David and Maureen Smith. If you aren't a history buff, David was Myra Hindley’s brother-in-law. He was the one who actually witnessed the final murder—the killing of Edward Evans—and went to the police. The show is less about the "why" and more about the "how" it all fell apart. It’s about the people caught in the blast radius of two of the most hated individuals in the UK.
The Chilling Transformation of Sean Harris
Sean Harris is an actor who seems to disappear into every role he takes, but his turn as Ian Brady is something else entirely. It’s unsettling. Brady was a man obsessed with Nazi philosophy and the Marquis de Sade, a clerk who thought he was a Nietzschean "superman" while living a drab life in a Manchester suburb. Harris captures that weird, stilted arrogance perfectly. He doesn't play Brady as a shouting villain. Instead, he gives him this cold, calculating stillness that makes your skin crawl.
You’ve probably seen Harris in Mission: Impossible or The Borgias, but this was arguably the role that proved he could handle the heaviest of psychological lifting. He spent a lot of time researching Brady's specific dialect and his strange, detached mannerisms. The way he sits in the kitchen of the house on Wardle Brook Avenue, smoking and looking down on everyone else, is basically a masterclass in quiet menace. It wasn’t just about looking like him. It was about capturing that specific brand of intellectual vanity that Brady used to manipulate those around him.
Maxine Peake as Myra Hindley
Then there is Maxine Peake. Playing Myra Hindley is a poisoned chalice for any British actress. Hindley remains a figure of intense, visceral hatred in the British consciousness, even decades after the crimes. Peake had to find a way to portray the transition from a seemingly normal young woman into a person capable of participating in the abduction and murder of children.
She nails the look, obviously. The peroxide blonde hair—that infamous mugshot—is recreated with haunting accuracy. But Peake does something more subtle. She shows the weird, desperate subservience Hindley had toward Brady. It’s not an excuse for her actions, and the script doesn't treat it as one. It just shows the grim reality of their dynamic. Peake has gone on to be one of the most respected actors in the UK, starring in things like Silk and The Village, but her performance in the See No Evil The Moors Murders cast remains a defining moment in her career. It was brave. It was difficult to watch. It was necessary for the story to feel real.
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The Witnesses: Joanne Froggatt and Matthew McNulty
While the killers get the headlines, the heart of the series is really David and Maureen Smith. Matthew McNulty plays David, and Joanne Froggatt (who everyone knows now from Downton Abbey) plays Maureen, Myra’s sister.
Their story is tragic in a different way. Imagine finding out your sister and her boyfriend are serial killers. Imagine being the person who walked into a room and saw a murder happening. McNulty plays David as a young man who is out of his depth, terrified, and eventually pushed to do the right thing despite his own checkered past. The chemistry—or rather, the fracturing bond—between him and Froggatt’s Maureen is what grounds the show.
Maureen Smith is perhaps the most tragic figure in this specific retelling. She loved her sister. She was caught between her husband, who was telling the truth about the horrors he saw, and her family, who couldn't believe Myra was capable of such things. Froggatt plays that conflict with a raw, shaky intensity. It’s a reminder that these crimes didn’t just destroy the victims’ families; they tore through the community like a wrecking ball.
Supporting Roles That Built the Atmosphere
The casting didn't stop with the four leads. The series was directed by Christopher Menaul and written by Neil McKay, and they filled the world with actors who looked like they belonged in 1960s Manchester.
- George Costigan plays Detective Joe Mounsey. Costigan is a veteran of British TV, and he brings a dogged, weary energy to the role of the man who refused to let the case go.
- The parents of the victims are portrayed with incredible sensitivity. This is where the show gets really hard to watch. You see the agonizing wait, the false hope, and the eventual crushing reality.
Why This Cast Worked Where Others Failed
Most "true crime" shows feel a bit exploitative. They linger on the gore or they try to make the killers seem "cool" or "edgy." See No Evil didn't do that. The See No Evil The Moors Murders cast was directed to be as authentic as possible. There were no stylized action sequences. No dramatic Hollywood monologues.
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The dialogue was often pulled from actual court transcripts and police records. When Sean Harris speaks as Brady, he’s often saying things the man actually said. This realism placed a huge burden on the actors. They couldn't "act" in the traditional sense; they had to inhabit a very bleak reality.
The production team actually consulted with the families of the victims before filming. That’s a huge detail. It changed the way the actors approached their roles. There was a sense of responsibility to the memory of Lesley Ann Downey, John Kilbride, Pauline Reade, Keith Bennett, and Edward Evans. The focus remained on the fact that these were children with lives and families, not just names in a case file.
The Impact of the Setting
You can't talk about the cast without talking about the "character" of the Moors themselves. The production filmed in and around the actual areas of Greater Manchester and the Pennines. The bleak, windswept landscape of Saddleworth Moor is a constant presence. It’s where the bodies were buried, and the actors often look genuinely cold and miserable in those scenes. It adds a layer of atmospheric weight that you just can't get on a soundstage in London.
The 1960s setting was also handled with a sort of grimy realism. It wasn't the "Swinging Sixties" of London. It was the industrial, soot-stained North. The costume department did a fantastic job of making the clothes look lived-in and slightly cheap, reflecting the working-class background of the characters.
The Legacy of the Miniseries
When it aired, See No Evil was a massive success, but it was also controversial. Some people felt it was too soon, even forty years later. But the performances—especially Harris and Peake—received nearly universal acclaim. They won BAFTAs for a reason.
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The series changed how British television handled true crime. It moved away from the "whodunnit" mystery and toward a psychological examination of the impact of evil. It asked the question: how does a community survive something this horrific?
If you are looking back at the See No Evil The Moors Murders cast today, you’re seeing some of the best British talent at the start of their prime. It’s a tough watch. It’s not something you put on for a fun Friday night. But as a piece of historical dramatization, it’s practically unmatched.
How to Approach the Subject Today
If you're interested in the history or the performances, there are a few things to keep in mind for a deeper understanding of what the cast was trying to achieve:
- Read the Trial Transcripts: To see how accurately Harris and Peake portrayed the killers, look up the 1966 trial records. The dialogue in the show is eerily close to the real thing.
- Look into the Search for Keith Bennett: Even now, the search for Keith Bennett’s remains continues periodically. Understanding that this isn't just a "closed case" adds a layer of gravity to the performances.
- Watch "Longford": If you want to see a different take on the aftermath, the film Longford (starring Jim Broadbent and Samantha Morton as Hindley) covers the later years of Hindley's life and her attempts at parole. It's a fascinating companion piece to See No Evil.
- Research David Smith: David Smith lived a very hard life after the trial, often being unfairly branded a "snitch" or even an accomplice by people who didn't know the facts. Understanding his real-life struggle makes Matthew McNulty’s performance even more poignant.
The story of the Moors murders is one of the darkest chapters in modern history. The cast of this 2006 miniseries didn't shy away from that darkness. They didn't try to make it palatable. They just showed it as it was: a tragedy that broke a community and changed the UK forever.
To understand the full scope of the case beyond the dramatization, one should look toward the work of Carol Ann Lee, whose book One of Your Own is widely considered the definitive biography of Myra Hindley. It provides the psychological context that the actors used to build their characters, moving past the tabloid headlines and into the grim reality of the 1960s. Examining the police work of the time also reveals how much the cast relied on the stoicism of the real-life investigators to portray a force that was essentially inventing modern forensics on the fly.