Making of a MURDERER

David Tennant tells TV Times about the responsibility of playing serial killer Dennis Nilsen

- Caren Clark

David Tennant is always a friendly and chatty interviewee, and the Broadchurch star is as warm and welcoming as ever when TV Times arrives at a north London studio in January.

We’re here to watch him filming ITV drama Des, in which he plays real-life serial killer Dennis Nilsen. But with his 1980s-style hair and glasses, there’s no denying David’s disconcerting resemblance to his notorious character.

The three-part series follows the arrest and trial of Scottish-born Nilsen, known as ‘Des’, after his horrific crimes were uncovered in February 1983 when human remains were found in the drain at his Muswell Hill home.

It was there that the 37-year-old calmly confessed to police that he had killed ‘15 or 16’ young men since 1978.

DCI Peter Jay (played by Line of Duty’s Daniel Mays) led the police investigation, which eventually saw Nilsen sentenced to life in prison for six murders and two attempted murders.