Accused: The Hampstead Paedophile Hoax Channel 4, 9pm When you throw mud on social media, it tends to stick. That ugly truth is at the heart of a bizarre English news story investigated in this documentary. In 2014, videos were streamed of two north London children who claimed that a paedophile satanic cult was operating out of their primary school: parents and teachers, a local priest, even a group of mothers, were sacrificing infants and drinking their blood.
How anyone took this seriously is beyond me, but once the fire was lit, it proved impossible to put out. Police investigations were begun, ever more outlandish accusations were spread online, and the lives of those accused were made a misery for up to a decade. A local vicar was chased through Hampstead by screaming demonstrators, a US conspiracy theorist flew to London to investigate and, if necessary, ‘rescue’ the children involved. Most of this harassment had been orchestrated by a small group of conspiracy nuts, and the whole story had been concocted in the first place by a mother and her partner, who had coached the kids to say unspeakable things for reasons too banal to mention. With the authorities unable to help, it fell on four of the accused mothers, and a band of online activists, to gather evidence and build a legal case against their harassers. And after four years of fighting for justice, they finally got their day in court.
ARA San Juan: The Submarine That Disappeared Netflix, streaming now In 2017, Argentine naval submarine ARA San Juan disappeared from radars with 44 crew members on board. To this day, it’s still unclear what happened. The Gentlemen Netflix, streaming now Guy Ritchie has his mitts all over this eight-parter, serving as executive producer, creator, co-writer, and featured director. He’s even got Vinnie Jones in it. As for the premise? Theo James (The White Lotus) stars as Eddie Horniman who inherits an empire from his estranged father — only to learn it’s an illegal cannabis farm.
