Viewers are finding witnesses in Lucy Letby Netflix documentary deeply 'unsettling'
One person described it as 'pretty disturbing' while another said it was 'awfully nauseous' to look at
A documentary which delves into the complex investigation of Lucy Letby has sparked controversy after two interviewees were digitally anonymised.
The Investigation of Lucy Letby landed on Netflix on Wednesday (4 February), and features some harrowing accounts of the horrors that took place at The Countess of Chester Hospital.
Letby, a former neonatal nurse, became the UK's most prolific child murderer in 2023 after a jury found her guilty of murdering seven newborn babies and attempting to kill another six tots.
The 36-year-old pled not guilty to the slew of charges related to a spate of infant deaths between June 2015 and June 2016, while also maintaining her innocence upon her conviction. She is serving 15 whole life terms.
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As well as detailing the evidence which landed her behind bars, The Investigation of Lucy Letby also explores the possibility that Letby might have been the victim of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice this century.
Before it made its Netflix debut, Letby's parents announced that they will not be watching the documentary, describing it as a 'complete invasion of privacy' and declaring: "It would likely kill us if we did."
However, hordes of people with a subscription to the streaming platform have already tuned into the hard-hitting show and viewers have been left stunned by one particularly 'unsettling' aspect of it.
Take a look at the trailer for the documentary here:
In the opening credits, a disclaimer appears on screen explaining that 'some contributors have been digitally disguised to maintain anonymity'.
It then goes on to explain that their 'names, appearances, and voices have been altered' as a result.
One of these interviewees is the mother of one of Letby's young victims, who appears under the pseudonym Sarah, while the other is a university pal of the disgraced nurse who is known as Maisie.
Each of the 'digitally anonymised' women delivers emotional testimony about their experiences, with viewers watching them blink, move, and even cry at some points.
Even more chillingly, the Netflix doc includes past images of Letby that have been digitally doctored to include the digitally-anonymised version of Maisie in them, in a bid to depict the early stages of their friendship.
As well as this, Sarah is seen handling objects which belonged to her late daughter, who was referred to as Zoe for privacy reasons, among other strange scenes.
This aspect of The Investigation of Lucy Letby has not sat well with those who have tuned into the documentary so far, especially given the sensitive subject matter it discusses.
Taking to X, one viewer said: "This digital anonymising on the Netflix Lucy Letby doc is incredibly unsettling. I’m assuming they used AI. Just go back to using voice of an actor."
Another added: "Netflix's choice to use AI on interviewees' faces was pretty disturbing. Might as well have just blurred their faces."
And a third said: "The manipulated photos of Lucy and a computer generated image felt particularly grotesque. This was an abysmal judgement call by the producers."
Similar conversations were also unfolding on Reddit amid the release of the documentary, as one person complained: "It took me so far out of the documentary. Feels disingenuous to the subject matter."
"I hated it too," a second said. "Made me feel so uncomfortable and a huge injustice to the actual mother."
While a third said: "It's awfully nauseous to look at. If they want to anonymise someone, just shoot from another angle, or something. I fear the future, where everything we watch on TV will be fake."
A lot of social media users shared a similar sentiment, as several people voiced concerns that digitally anonymity could soon 'become the norm' in true crime shows.
LADbible has contacted Netflix for comment.
Topics: Crime, Documentaries, Lucy Letby, Netflix, True Crime, UK News, AI
Olivia Burke