Page 281 - FINAL_Guildhall Media Highlights 2019-2020 Coverage Book

Bamber attending court, 1986 CREDIT: MIRRORPIX
Specifically, they claim the CPS has refused to follow directions made by the court of appeal in
2002 to disclose material that could challenge his conviction. Meanwhile in October, Bamber
claimed a police note found among thousands released to him in 2011 showed that he could not
have made both phone calls on the night of the murders (one to his home from the farm, which
he’d claimed his father made, and one from his home to the police), as the prosecution had
claimed.

As it is, the six episodes of White House Farm stick to ‘what factually happened, and is known to
have happened’, Fox says. It means all the bones of contention – such as Essex police’s
contamination of the crime scene, the discrepancies in the call log, and the crucial matter of a
blood-flecked silencer that the prosecution argued would rule out Sheila killing herself – are
acknowledged, but no alternative conclusion is drawn.

Part of the reason people turned against Bamber was that his grieving appeared to involve some
time spent hysterically crying in public, and some time partying and taking drugs. Later, his
demeanour in court was astoundingly rakish. When the prosecution accused him of lying, he
replied, ‘That is what you have to establish.’

‘From the accounts I’ve read, his behaviour was quite untypical, in that he presented as very
relaxed,’ Fox says of the days after the murders. ‘In the drama you want there to be an ambivalence
in the audience’s mind, of this slightly more mercurial character. And it could only have been [him
or Sheila]. That’s the extraordinary thing.’

To bone up on the case, Fox relied on the two texts that writer Kris Mrksa based his script on:
Carol Ann Lee’s book The Murders at White House Farm and In Search of the Rainbow’s End, the
memoir written by Sheila’s ex-husband, Colin Caffell. Filming took place over the summer in a
meticulously reconstructed farmhouse in Essex. The cast includes Line of Duty’s Stephen Graham
and Fox’s old friend Cressida Bonas (yes, Prince Harry’s ex-girlfriend), who plays Sheila. Despite
the dark subject matter, it was ‘hard work but fun’.

Given his account of events was informing the script, Caffell, who is now 65 and a successful
sculptor, was invited to visit the set one day. He’s the only member of the family who was involved
and, as far as Fox knows, the only one to have seen any of it. ‘He lent his support from the very
beginning,’ Fox says. ‘It was very gracious of him to let me ask lots of questions about something
you’d think would be very emotional and painful for him. But he’s been able to work through that
and make peace with it.’

When he visited the set, Caffell told Fox about the manner in which Bamber spoke to his parents,
as well as certain ‘vocalisations’ of a 24-year-old in 1985’s Essex. Fox also asked about Sheila and
her mental-health troubles, and ‘depending on your point of view, about why someone in that
position would do that. The drama has to be done with dignity and respect and skill, so to have him
behind it, who’s seen it and given his blessing, is a huge mark of success.’

Fox was also able to speak to officials, including policemen who worked on the case, as well as pore
over documents, newspaper clippings and video footage. However, he decided against attempting
to visit or call Bamber in prison.

‘I don’t necessarily know I would have got what I was looking for, and he wouldn’t necessarily have
wanted to talk about it either.’ He pauses for a beat. ‘Added to which, the show sticks to what
happens, and obviously he maintains his innocence, so it’s going to be at odds with his version of
events.’