Deadly connection

Keira Knightley stars in the true story of the reporters who broke the story of a twisted serial killer

NEW DRAMA

Boston Strangler From Friday 17 March, Disney+

Notorious 1960s serial killer the Boston Strangler has been the subject of several books, documentaries and an acclaimed 1969 film starring Tony Curtis.

Yet the tale of the two female journalists who first broke the story and gave the murderer his infamous nickname has never been told – until now.

The Disney+ movie Boston Strangler follows Loretta McLaughlin (Keira Knightley) and Jean Cole (Carrie Coon), two reporters at Boston’s Record American, as they risk their lives to uncover the truth about a case that still divides opinion to this day.

Between 1962 and 1964, 13 women, aged 19 to 85, were murdered after they were tricked into inviting the killer into their homes, where he strangled them, usually with nylon stockings.

‘I wasn’t sure how to approach the film until I heard an interview with Loretta McLaughlin, who was among the first to connect the murders,’ says the film’s writer/ director Matt Ruskin.