As OnTheWight reported earlier in the year, a documentary series about the disappearance of Isle of Wight teenager, Damien Nettles, has been created by BBC investigative journalists, Alys Harte and Bronagh Munro.
It’s almost twenty years since the teenager from the Isle of Wight went missing after a night in Cowes.
The eight-part series, which was filmed on the Isle of Wight last year, will be showing from Monday (25th July) on BBCThree (online channel).
Unsolved: The Boy Who Disappeared sees reporters Alys Harte and Bronagh Munro launch a forensic and serialised investigation into a teenage boy who mysteriously vanished on the Isle of Wight twenty years ago.
16yr old Damien went missing on the Isle of Wight in 1996. 20 yrs later there’s no body & the case remains #Unsolvedhttps://t.co/JnpkdVBT1L
— BBC Three (@bbcthree) July 19, 2016
Damien’s mother Valerie Nettles, told OnTheWight today,
“It’s been a long, grueling dig into th last 20 years. It has been mentally and physically exhausting, but I had nothing to lose so took this opportunity when it arose. I didn’t fully appreciate how big this would be and I am staggered at the publicity.
“The team have been dedicated and committed to Damien from day one. I couldn’t have asked for more. When I thought I had dredged up enough information they urged me to think more.
“This, to me, was like the independent investigstion by another police force, which I had asked for but had not got.”
The series has been likened to the NetFlix Making of a Murderer series and family and friends of Damien hope it will help raise awareness of the case and lead to some closure.
Episode One – The Night
Alys and Bronagh establish the events of 2 November 1996 – the night Damien went missing. Talking to his family and a key witness from that evening, they delve into what was happening in the teenager’s life at the time. Could the island’s drugs underworld be the key to solving this mystery?
Episode Two – The Informant
Alys and Bronagh track down an ex-informant from the island’s drug dealing scene. He hands over information about where Damien could be buried.
But does this bring us any closer to the truth? And is this everything the informant claims to know?
Episode Three – The Suspect
Damien’s younger brother James returns to the Isle of Wight after 12 years away to help Alys and Bronagh with their investigation.
As they gather more evidence and a key suspect emerges, conflicting accounts arise. But does this deliver a breakthrough?
Episode Four – The Weatherman
Damien’s mother Valerie comes back to the Island to help investigate her son’s disappearance.
Meanwhile, Alys and Bronagh meet with a private investigator who has worked on the case for years. He leads them to an anonymous new witness – ‘The Weatherman’. His evidence is dramatic. But should we believe him?
Episode Five – The CCTV
Alys and Bronagh interrogate the Weatherman’s account and discover the police lost crucial evidence.
Not only could this prove or disprove the Weatherman’s account, it could also reveal Damien’s last movements. So what could have happened?
Episode Six – The House Of Death
Alys and Bronagh go on the hunt for one of the island’s most notorious residents – a dealer, who was apparently in a relationship with the key suspect in the case.
It turns out the suspect is not the only person to have died of a drug overdose in this dealer’s ‘house of death’. When the team eventually find her, she agrees to talk on camera for the first time about Damien’s disappearance.
Episode Seven – The Search
In a final push to unearth more evidence, the team meet another friend of Damien’s who was with him the night he disappeared.
Alys and Bronagh hear about a possible witness who could have vital information about that evening. All they need to do is find him.
Episode Eight – The Dig
Alys and Bronagh deploy a cadaver dog to search for Damien’s body.
Ultimately, they are led to one of the island’s most notorious drug dealers – a man rumoured to have information about Damien’s disappearance.
When the team track this dealer down, he makes an astonishing offer.
Image: © BBC
