EXCLUSIVE: A two-part Netflix documentary from Louis Theroux‘s manufacturing biz will inform the story of the victims of a prolific UK cyberstalker and the way they in the end helped deliver him to justice.
Dropping on Netflix globally on February 21, Can I Inform You A Secret? will inform the harrowing real-life story of the victims of serial cyberstalker Matthew Hardy. Instructed utilizing testimony from the ladies, it’ll element the terrifying and sustained on-line harassment they endured and the way his crimes tore lives aside.
In January 2022, Hardy was jailed for 9 years, the longest sentence ever doled out within the UK for on-line stalking. The courtroom heard how he would create faux social media accounts earlier than contacting individuals with the beguiling message, ‘Can I inform you a secret?’ He went on to ship messages to victims and their family and friends that sowed discord and created heartache, regularly with horrible penalties.
The doc will element the police investigation and the way his victims helped authorities snare the web abuser.
Can I Inform You A Secret? is the primary Netflix fee for Mindhouse, the manufacturing firm based by documentarian and presenter Theroux, Nancy Strang and Arron Fellows. Theroux is well-known for fronting movies and sequence about cultural figures and points, and his prodco is forging a fame for making the form of complicated and interesting docs that cowl the identical intriguing and knotty floor.
The brand new two-parter is made by Mindhouse in affiliation with UK newspaper the Guardian.
The sequence director is Liza Williams (The Yorkshire Ripper Information) and director is Tash Gaunt. Government producer for the Guardian is Lindsay Poulton, with authentic reporting by Sirin Kale, the newspaper’s characteristic author who has lined Hardy’s crimes in depth and fronted a Guardian podcast of the identical title.
Strang will exec produce for Mindhouse with Aloke Devichand, the filmmaker and former head of docs for Netflix in Asia who joined the indie final yr.
“Hardy’s lengthy marketing campaign of harassment has had an enduring and profound affect on the ladies he focused,” mentioned Strang. “I hope their testimonies will make clear the fact of on-line stalking and alter the dialog about what constitutes hurt in a digital age.”
The Mindhouse co-founder added: “Large because of Netflix for trusting us with this as our first fee. It’s been a pleasure working with them to assist deliver this exceptional story to a world viewers.”
Mindhouse’s reveals embody Sky doc Lockerbie, BBC and CNN co-pro Columbia: The Last Flight (working title), BBC sports activities docs Gods of Snooker and Gods of Tennis, and Intercourse Really with Alice Levine. The agency’s subsequent doc, Inform Them You Love Me, launches on Sky within the UK on February 3.
