Two years after Disney+ transported audiences inside the Beatles recording sessions in Get Back!, Apple TV+ will examine the murder of John Lennon.
John Lennon: Murder Without a Trial is a three-part documentary expected to air later this year.
It will feature interviews with eyewitnesses who have never spoken publicly about the incident before and previously unseen crime scene photos that shed new light on the death of Lennon in December 1980, aged 40.
Lennon was shot outside his New York home, the Dakota, by Mark David Chapman who remained at the scene reading The Catcher in the Rye before confessing to the crime.
Billed as the most thoroughly researched examination of the murder, producers secured access to the New York City police department, the Board of Parole and the district attorney’s office documents for the series.
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Murder Without a Trial will also feature accounts from some of Lennon’s closest friends, who are yet to be named, the first on-camera interview with one of Chapman’s defence lawyers, the police officers who were first on the scene, the medics who tried to save Lennon and the detective who investigated the murder.
The series has been narrated by Kiefer Sutherland, who played Jack Bauer in 24. Sutherland selected the Beatles’ 1969 song Oh Darling! as his first pick on BBC Radio 2’s Tracks Of My Years show in an appearance in 2019.
It is being produced by 72 Films, which was also behind National Geographic’s Emmy award-winning 9/11: One Day In America and Channel 4’s Crime and Punishment.
It is understood to have approached Murder Without a Trial in a respectful and sensitive manner rather than attempting to sensationalise the event, which sparked dismay around the world.
The documentary will also seek to explore the ripples that Lennon’s murder had across society more broadly, echoing the technique adopted for previous 72 Films documentaries including Jade: The Reality Star Who Changed Britain and Spice Girls: How Girl Power Changed Britain.
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It considers the series to be the definitive account of what occurred on the evening of Lennon’s death. Previous efforts include the 2007 biographical drama film Chapter 27.
Apple TV+ was estimated by the viewing measurement agency Barb to have 1.9 million subscribers in March. The £8.99 per month service was found to have grown globally by 17 per cent year-on-year in a study released last week by the consultancy Kantar.
“New hit series such as Hijack and familiar favourites such as Ted Lasso continue to attract significant numbers of signups,” it said, adding that Apple’s biggest challenge is turning those viewers who join to watch a specific series into long-term subscribers.
Murder Without a Trial will join a slate of forthcoming shows including a Christmas TV adaptation of The Velveteen Rabbit.
Helena Bonham Carter will star in the live-action animation hybrid from Magic Light, the producer of the BBC’s adaptation of Julia Donaldson’s The Gruffalo, The Highway Rat and this year’s Tabby McTat.
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Written by Margery Williams, a British author, with illustrations from William Nicholson and first published in 1922, The Velveteen Rabbit tells the story of what it means to “be real” by following the tale of a young boy who is given a stuffed rabbit as a Christmas present but discards it in favour of more modern, mechanical toys.
