A Confession, from acclaimed screenwriter, Jeff Pope, starring Martin Freeman, Imelda Staunton, Siobhan Finneran and Joe Absolom has been co-produced by ITV Studios and Urban Myth Films.
The series tells the story of how Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher, played by Martin Freeman (StartUp, The Hobbit, Sherlock, Fargo), deliberately breached police procedure and protocol to catch a killer, a decision that ultimately cost him his career and reputation.
Set in Swindon, Wiltshire, ‘A Confession’, details the disappearance of 22-year-old Sian O’Callaghan in March 2011. On a night out with girlfriends, Sian left a nightclub in Swindon Old Town to walk the 15 minutes home to boyfriend Kevin Reape, played by Charlie Cooper (This Country). Worried for her safety, Kevin reports Sian missing when she fails to come home in the early hours or respond to his increasingly frantic texts.
Episode One
A quiet relaxing Saturday morning in the picturesque surroundings of a countryside hotel is cut short for Elaine O’Callaghan (Siobhan Finneran), as a worried phone call from her son Liam O’Callaghan (Jake Davies) causes her to come home early. The date is Saturday 19 th March 2011, and Elaine’s daughter Sian has not come home to the house she shares with her boyfriend Kevin Reape (Charlie Cooper) from the night before, and naturally concerns begin to arise within Sian’s tight-knit family, regarding her wellbeing.
Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher (Martin Freeman) of Wiltshire Police is the on-duty S.I.O. for what he had hoped was going to be a quiet weekend at home, but when the call comes in on the Saturday afternoon that local girl Sian hasn’t returned from her Friday night out, Fulcher’s instincts tell him that this is no ordinary missing person case. A briefing from officers who have been to speak to Sian’s family does nothing to allay the rising fears Steve has for Sian’s safety, and a search for the missing girl ensues.
As the search ramps up and gains media attention the next day, the news of the missing girl strikes a chord with Karen Edwards (Imelda Staunton), who due to an unusual set of circumstances hasn’t seen her own daughter Becky Godden-Edwards (Stephanie Hyam) for over eight years. She wishes the local girl will make it home to her own mother safe, whilst hoping that her daughter Becky will one-day do the same.
The initial investigation by Steve and Wiltshire Police doesn’t turn up many leads, but a mobile signal ping from Sian’s phone off a cell-tower mast near a local beauty spot – Savernake Forest – in the early hours of Sunday morning, is something that takes everyone by surprise.
Elaine and Sian’s father Mick (Ian Puleston-Davies) gather Sian’s family together and keep her in their thoughts, as the local residents of Swindon decide to take matters into their own hands and join the Police in the search for Sian in Savernake Forest.
(Picture: ITV)
Just as the investigation threatens to run into a dead-end, with a search radius of 6.2miles proving impossible to cover, it emerges from CCTV footage that Sian had taken a ride in a car outside the nightclub she attended on the Friday night. The image is grainy and although neither the model of car nor number plate can be identified, the girl is definitely Sian. And with DSI Fulcher now knowing that he needs to look for one of fourteen potential vehicles spotted on ANPR cameras as a result of the CCTV find, he makes the decision to treat the disappearance as a crime-in-action, on the basis that Sian is still alive somewhere and needs to be found.
A television appeal, led by Elaine and Sian’s boyfriend Kevin, attempts to reach out to the good nature of Sian’s captor, but a shocking realisation that Steve will have to investigate whether a senior officer at Wiltshire Police might be the abductor, throws the investigation into unchartered territory.
(Picture: ITV) Martin Freeman as Det. Supt. Steve Fulcher
A Confession starts in 2 weeks time on ITV
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