Madeleine McCann’s parents have opened up on renewed trauma which has had a “negative impact” on their family.
Channel 5 recently stirred up controversy over its latest true crime drama, Under Suspicion: Kate McCann, about the disappearance of the couple’s daughter almost 20 years ago.
But the show triggered an emotional response from Kate and Gerry McCann who were left “disappointed and revealed they had “no involvement whatsoever” in the drama’s production.
The documentary, which stars actress Laura Bayston as Mrs McCann, shows the mother being cross-examined by police in the early stages of the investigation in May 2007.
Penning a candid statement on the Find Madeleine Campaign website, the pair said: “Thank you to everyone who has offered support & kindness this month. May is never the easiest.
“We usually start to feel a bit ‘lighter’ at this stage of the month. We are disappointed however, knowing that a Channel 5 ‘docu-drama’ will air tonight.
“We have not given, or been asked for, our consent and have had no involvement whatsoever in its making.
“Programmes like this, always have a negative impact on our family.”
Kate and Gerry McCann put out a statement following the release of the controversial crime drama
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GETTY
A spokesman for Channel 5 claimed that the drama’s production team had “worked carefully to ensure accuracy, restraint and fairness”.
He said: “We informed the McCann family of both the production and the transmission date.
“The film is grounded in source material, including official police documents, interview transcripts, court records, and publicly available accounts.
“The production team worked carefully to ensure accuracy, restraint and fairness, particularly given the sensitivity of the subject matter.”
Madeleine McCann disappeared on May 3 2007
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PA
The three-year-old disappeared on May 3 2007 at a holiday apartment in Praia da Luz in Portugal after her parents left her with their other children while out for dinner.
When the parents returned at around 10pm that evening, they discovered their daughter was missing.
In September that year, Portuguese detectives made both parents suspects. The suspicion against the couple was ultimately dismissed around six months later in 2008.
In 2019, Netflix produced an eight-episode documentary, The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann, which assesses the way the media, investigation and the parents dealt with the disappearance.
Some 40 contributors, 120 hour of interviews, archival news footage and reenactments all contributed to a mass effort to “go beyond the headlines”.
The mystery is still being investigated by the Metropolitan Police as a missing person case.
Nevertheless, a group of specialist detectives have been building the case to the Crown Prosecution Service for suspected abduction and murder.
They are thought to be seeking to bring suspect Christian Brueckner to the UK to stand trial for allegedly being involved in the disappearance of the British child in Portugal.
Germany does not extradite its citizens to non-EU countries, but if Berlin refuses to hand Brueckner over, the police service is said to be committed to pursuing charges in either Germany or Portugal.
Brueckner was named the prime suspect in Madeleine’s disappearance in 2020 while serving a seven-year prison sentence in Hanover for the rape of a 72-year-old woman.
No charges were brought in the McCann case before his release in September 2025.