Airdate: A Confession

UK true crime drama A Confession, based on the 2011 murder of Sian O’Callaghan, begins this Sunday on Seven.

The six-part drama stars Martin Freeman as Detective Superintendent Steve Fulcher and Joe Absolom as Christopher Halliwell.

Written by Jeff Pope (Little Boy Blue, The Moorside, Cilla) it tells the true story of how Fulcher deliberately breached police procedure and protocol to catch a killer …a decision that ultimately cost him his career and reputation.

It also features Imelda Staunton.

A Confession was filmed in Wiltshire and the Home Counties with Paul Andrew Williams (Strangers, Broadchurch) directing each of the six episodes. It aired in the UK late last month.

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.

With the police investigation underway, officers arrive on the doorstep of Sian’s mother, Elaine O’Callaghan, played by Siobhan Finneran (Cold Feet, The Moorside, Happy Valley), who at first thinks her daughter must have stayed overnight with a girlfriend. Described as a ‘family girl’, it was uncharacteristic of Sian to be out of touch with her loved ones.

Senior Investigating Officer Steve Fulcher leads a team which begins to piece together Sian’s last movements, scouring CCTV footage from the club and re-tracing her steps home. Cell-site analysis reveals her mobile phone signal bouncing off a mast 14 miles away in Savernake Forest. With the missing person’s enquiry in full swing Fulcher, orders a full-scale search operation.

Believing Sian may still be alive, Fulcher operates on the premise that Sian is being held somewhere against her will. If she is, he knows it will be a race against time. Through diligent and painstaking police work Fulcher and his team discovers CCTV footage of her in the High Street, which leads to vital clues in the investigation.

8:30pm Sunday on Seven.