The film’s forensic, quasi-documentary intentions are established immediately by the opening text: “This is a true story. Whenever possible, the dialogue has been based on official documents.” As the words appear, an air raid siren is heard, establishing both period and imminent threat. The sound blends into John Dankworth’s sparely used score, unexpected swells of harp aptly suggesting frenzy and disturbance beneath the austere woodwind surface, as the credits play over the Rillington Place street sign. The film is resolutely unglamorous, its depressed post-World War II setting feeling painfully authentic and lived-in. Indeed, such was the commitment to realism that the actual Rillington Place was used for external shots and the staircase, shortly before being demolished, with interior rooms shot in the studio. Denys Coop’s superbly unobtrusive, naturalistic cinematography records a drab, run-down everyday world, where everything seems to be a shade of greyish brown. There is almost grim humour in Christie’s puffed-up pride when showing off the profoundly miserable upstairs flat to let at No. 10 to the ill-fated Timothy and Beryl Evans (John Hurt and Judy Geeson). Even without his stifling presence, it is a grimy little room in an exhausted, shabby London.

When he was eight years old, Christie’s grandfather passed away. Christie later cited the moment of seeing his grandfather’s dead body in a casket as life-changing. Here was a man who had scared him, now nothing more than a body. After that, Christie said corpses held a “fascination” over him. As I note in my original post about the book, it is not without its issues and, having been involved myself at the time as a sort of technical consultant cum proofreader, it was and is frustrating to see certain things make it through to the published work despite them having been flagged up during the writing stages. I know that the Thorleys were less than thrilled with the final outcome and did not feel as though their story had in all respects been best served by the publishers. In September 1916, during the First World War, Christie enlisted in the British Army; he was called up on 12 April 1917 to join the 52nd Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment to serve as an infantryman. In April 1918, the regiment was despatched to France, where Christie was seconded to the Duke of Wellington's Regiment as a signalman.

Eddowes, John The Two Killers of Rillington Place, p. xvi considers Kennedy's Ten Rillington Place and a newspaper campaign run by the editor of the Northern Echo as being effective in maintaining the view that Evans was innocent after the Scott Henderson Inquiry.

Benwell, Max (24 November 2016). "Rillington Place: What John Christie's Residential Burial Ground Looks Like Now". The Independent . Retrieved 21 December 2016. Confessed Murderer of 7 Women Must Die in London". The Free Lance-Star. 25 June 1953 . Retrieved 7 January 2017. In yet another contradictory statement, when asked by the police if he was responsible for the murders, Evans allegedly said, “Yes, yes.” Jesse, F. Tennyson (1957). The Trials of Timothy John Evans and John Reginald Halliday Christie. Notable Trials series, William Hodge. In October 1944, Christie found his second victim, a work colleague named Muriel Eady. According the the Plymouth Herald, Eady had been suffering from bronchitis, and Christie lured her to 10 Rillington Place with the promise of a special cure.

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Gammon, Edna E. (2011). A House to Remember: 10 Rillington Place. Liverpool, England: Memoirs Books. p.63. ISBN 978-1-908-22338-8. Shortly before Beryl died, she told Thorley how scared she was of Evans, and gave him her wedding ring for safekeeping, believing her husband would pawn it. He still has it now. She also told him Evans had threatened to kill her.

Q7: How much do you remember of the house at 10 Rillington Place? The discovery of John Christie’s murderous acts there and where he had hidden bodies in the house and garden, that must be very difficult knowledge when you had spent time there as a child?I have never had any doubt of Evans’ guilt. As time passed our many years of research have proved that, despite the bizarre prospect of two killers in the same house, their murdering techniques were different. Adapted by Clive Exton from Ludovic Kennedy’s crusading non-fiction book of the same name, 10 Rillington Placeexpertly tells the bleak story of English serial killer John Reginald Christie (Richard Attenborough), and the terrible miscarriage of justice created by his crimes. Please note that, as Christie remains infamous, this piece will include spoilers (as I’m assuming many readers will at least be aware of the basic historical facts). I am also going to confine my analysis solely to the version of events portrayed onscreen, rather than discussing discrepancies or omissions compared to the real case. When police searched 10 Rillington Place, the bodies of Beryl and Geraldine were found in the shared washhouse. In a different story under heavy questioning by police Evans said he had killed his wife. He went on trial in January 1950. Evans said at trial he didn’t kill Beryl, he once again said John Christie was the one who killed his wife. He was however found guilty. On March 9, 1950, Timothy Evans was hanged for murder. Video: On this day in 1953: Rillington Place murders". www.yorkshirepost.co.uk . Retrieved 9 December 2019.

It stars Tim Roth, who stars as Christie, and Samantha Morton, who stars as his wife Ethel. The show is focusing on two of Christie’s victims, Beryl Evans and her one-year-old Geraldine. Three years later, authorities discovered that John Christie was a serial killer. During his trial, he confessed to killing Evans’ wife in one of the most staggering cases of judicial failure in modern history. Above all, this book is a moving personal story of the enduring love a boy had, and still has, for his beloved big sister and tiny niece, both of whom he still misses and mourns to this day. As though such pain were not enough to have borne, he and his family have had also to live with the sensationalised, endlessly trawled over and almost always erroneously depicted events which are so very far from the truth as he alone knew it to be – alone, that is, until now, thanks to this belated but heartfelt and crucially valuable contribution. Kennedy, Ludovic (1961). Ten Rillington Place. London, England: Victor Gollancz Ltd. pp.23–24. ISBN 978-0685032640.

And so, just as his detailed confession made apparent, it really does seem that Evans indeed did strangle to death his young pregnant wife and his infant daughter – the latter crime for which he was tried and convicted – and for which he suffered the only penalty available under the law of the day. Painfully for her youngest brother, no conviction in respect of Beryl’s murder was ever obtained. The film 10 Rillington Place was filmed on the street shortly before it was demolished. The families living in at number 10 refused to move out, so number six was used as a stand-in. Henderson, John Scott (1953). "Report By Mr. J. Scott Henderson, Q.C., Presented by the Secretary of State for the Home Department to Parliament", reprinted in Kennedy, Ten Rillington Place, pp. 249–297.