The miniseries about a real murder that triumphs on Netflix and has a Catalan connection

BarcelonaThe list of Netflix's most-watched series always brings surprises, and in recent days, the British miniseries The witness has unexpectedly climbed to the top of the rankings. The three-episode production, currently the most-watched series on the platform in Spain (titled El testigo and without Catalan subtitles), focuses on the real case of Rachel Nickell's murder, who in 1992 was stabbed in a park in southwest London while walking with her two-year-old son, the sole witness to the events. The story has a Catalan connection: the victim's partner and son, André and Alex Hanscombe, currently live in Catalonia, where they moved to escape the media harassment they suffered during the investigation of the case.

The miniseries has two timelines: that of 1992, when the murder occurred, and that of 2002, when the investigation was reopened. It is in this second part that we see the life of the father and son in Catalan lands and even hear them speak Catalan with varying degrees of difficulty. The production filmed these scenes in Catalonia, although it has not shared the exact filming locations.

El testigo not only focuses on the investigation of the murder and the errors that were made, but also shows the consequences of Rachel's death on André and Alex's relationship and how they were forced to leave the United Kingdom and settled first in France and later in Barcelona. In 2024, they returned to London temporarily to participate as consultants for the series.

The son's experience

Created by Rob Williams, who has been a screenwriter for series like Killing Eve and The man on the high castle, El testigo takes as a reference the book Letting go, written by Alex Hanscombe in 2017. "Over the years, I've tried to make sense of what happened and assimilate it. Writing the book was part of the process, but it's a complicated journey and neither my father nor I have ever felt that we had it fully resolved. We both felt there was still a part of the story to share to honor my mother's memory," Hanscombe explained to Netflix on the occasion of the series' premiere.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Independent, Williams assured that he had been surprised by the generosity of father and son with the series. "The idea that someone puts words in your mouth during the most painful moment of your life seems incredible to me. But it shows how much they feel this story needs to be told – he affirms. They want to show that it is possible to move forward, that there is something on the other side of pain."

The premiere of the series is accompanied by a documentary, The Murder of Rachel Nickell, which has also made it into the platform's most-watched rankings (in fifth place on the film list) and in which father and son have also participated. "What differentiates this documentary is that there is a production team that understands us and thinks the same way we do. Unfortunately, with the best intentions in the world, our experience with the media has often been that the person on the other side of the table hasn't been able to see things from our point of view. Often, we've struggled to agree on what's important and to convey that message in a way that feels authentic to us," André Hanscombe explained to Netflix about the reasons that led them to agree to make the documentary.