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ITV's Des: This sinister moment was left out of serial killer drama

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

From Cosmopolitan

ITV's recently released their latest crime series, Des, starring David Tennant as the prolific serial killer Dennis Nilsen, who killed at least 12 men and boys in London throughout the 1970s and 80s.

The series, which is split into three episodes, tells the story of the crimes and subsequent trial of Dennis Nilsen, a serial killer who was responsible for the deaths of at least 12 men and boys (and the attempted murder of seven others) in London during the 1970s and 80s.

Nilsen, who was famously nicknamed 'The Muswell Hill Murderer', would commit murders from 1978 until 1983, until a plumber called to Nilsen's building discovered human remains in the drainage system, and it turns out that one moment involving the discovery of human remains in Nilsen's drainpipes was left out of the ITV drama.

According to Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay, who made the grim discovery, Nilsen's reaction to the news that they had found human remains was very different to how it was portrayed on the show.

After seeing what he believed were parts of a hand in Nilsen's drain DCI Jay met Nilsen at the door to his flat and told him, "I've come about your drains."

On the show Nilsen reacts in shock, pretending to be surprised by the discovery, but according to biographer Brian Masters the response that DCI Jay got in reality was very different, "A little smirk came across his face and he said, 'Since when have police been interested in blocked drains?'"

Photo credit: ITV
Photo credit: ITV

DCI Jay clearly remembered Nilsen's sinister smirk when recalling the horrifying events of that day, but on the ITV series that moment is cut from the scene with Tennant's Nilsen instead feigning ignorance.

The final episode of Des airs on ITV tonight at 9pm.

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