TV bosses plan drama about kidnap of Dewsbury Moor girl Shannon Matthews

IN SPOTLIGHT A film crew outside the former Matthews home in Moorside Road in 2008.

The team behind the Batfa award-winning Fred and Rose West drama Appropriate Adult are said be to working on the project.

It has been reported that they will start filming early next year.

Schoolgirl Shannon disappeared while walking home from school in February 2008.

It triggered a major police investigation costing more than £3m and threw Dewsbury Moor’s Moorside Estate into the national spotlight.

The search ended after 24 days when Shannon was found in the Batley Carr home of Michael Donovan, a relative of her mother’s then partner.

Mum Karen Matthews and her co-accused Michael Donovan were found guilty at trial and jailed for kidnap, false imprisonment and perverting the course of justice.

The drama is expected to feature Karen Matthews’ neighbours uncovering the fake kidnap plot.

A source quoted by the national newspaper suggested actresses Catherine Tate and Patsy Palmer were being considered for the role of Karen Matthews.