A bold headline saying “SCRAP IT!”, and a hard-hitting page one comment, was the Gloucester Citizen’s reaction to news that a planned TV dramatisation of the Fred and Rosemary West story was on hold.

Channel 5 first announced plans to make a four-part television drama about the husband and wife mass murderers in May 1998. The Citizen immediately launched a campaign in opposition.

An exclusive by reporter Annelisa Macaulay-Lowe has now revealed that the planned drama has been put on hold following unsuccessful attempts to find a production company and a suitable script. But Channel 5’s head of corporate affairs, Paul Leather, told her: “We are still looking to make the serial. There are no problems in particular, but it’s a very sensitive area – it’s just getting the script and finding the right production company.”

He said that the plan had only been put on the backburner.

In its page one comment, The Citizen called on Channel 5 to scrap “this deeply offensive plan now”.

The newspaper added: “Channel 5 is wrong, wrong, wrong to continue to pursue this project.

“Its attempts to present it as a serious analysis of the Wests’ crimes simply will not wash.

“This film is about exploitation. Channel 5 should scrap it.”

During its campaign, The Citizen conducted a telephone survey of 100 people in which the public voted overwhelmingly against the dramatisation.

By June 1998, 500 objections to the series had been received by the newspaper.

A petition was set up by The Citizen which received 5,000 signatures, but Channel 5 “snubbed” a delegation which handed it over in November 1998.

The row rumbled on. In December 1999, Channel 5 said it would begin filming despite widespread opposition. This March they promised that no filming would take place in Gloucester.

Mr Leather said the 5,000-name petition, and protests from families of the Wests’ victims, had not had any bearing on the decision to put a hold on the drama.

But Gloucester MP Tess Kingham, a leading figure in the fight, said she was sure the newspaper’s campaign had had an affect on the TV station bosses.

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