Bringing The Drama To Life The Serpent is a new BBC drama set in the 1970s which started on New Year’s Day and here’s an interview with its exec producer Preethi Mavahalli from Mammoth Screen… You’ve been developing The Serpent for a number of years, can you tell us how the series came about and
Director Tom Shankland, writer Richard Warlow and exec producers Preethi Mavahalli and Damien Timmer take DQ along the 1970s ‘Hippie Trail’ to reveal the long journey to making BBC and Netflix drama The Serpent.
Delays are not uncommon when making TV series, but eight-part drama The Serpent has seen off more hold-ups and difficulties than most. During a seven-year journey to bring the story of murderer Charles Sobhraj to the screen, the production went through an extensive research and development phase before overcoming Thailand’s rainy season, actor availability issues and a global pandemic.
Inspired by real events, the show follows the long road to the apprehension of Sobhraj (Tahar Rahim), a serial killer who preyed on young Western travellers across India, Thailand and Nepal’s ‘Hippie Trail’ in 1975 and 1976 – crimes that made him Interpol’s most wanted man.
In the spring of 1975, Sobhraj met Canadian medical secretary Marie-Andrée Leclerc (Jenna Coleman).
Leclerc soon became his main accomplice in many of his scams but had denied being aware of any killings.
In July 1976 in New Delhi, Sobhraj and Leclerc alongside Barbara Smith and Mary Ellen Eather tricked a group of French students into accepting them as tour guides.
Sobhraj then drugged the group, which took effect faster than anticipated and when some of the students realised what was happening to their peers, they overpowered Sobhraj and called the police.
Two years later, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison in India alongside Leclerc.