The Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer, review: a superb skewering of Charles Sobhraj
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Pictures of the real-life “Serpent”, the serial killer featured in a memorable 2021 BBC drama starring Tahar Rahim, wandering around London on a mini-break last weekend understandably made headlines. But if you studied the photos of a dodgy old man wearing an obvious wig (looking mostly like a dodgy old man wearing an obvious wig), you will have noted that they came from “Channel 4”.
The shock that Charles Sobhraj (who, in 1976, confessed to drugging, robbing and killing a series of young backpackers on the hippie trail in South-East Asia) was roaming free in Britain was somewhat tempered by the realisation that our awareness of this fact was part of a marketing campaign for a new TV series.
Lo and behold, a few days later, here comes Channel 4’s The Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer. The PR campaign may have helped grab a few more viewers for the three-part true crime documentary, but it also lent the whole undertaking an air of gimmickry. (It didn’t help that The Real Serpent comes hot on the heels of Channel 4’s The Jury, part of a season of judicial jiggerypokery.)
The Real Serpent, we were assured, was Sobhraj “speaking out for the first time”. It was a monumental coup, though, one that’s been in the offing since 2016 when the director David Howard somehow managed to get in touch with Sobhraj in a Nepali prison. Our man had not been paid to go on camera, we were several times reminded. He was merely, “fed up of all the allegations”. And so, he said, “I’ve decided I’m going to put forward my facts and let the people decide.”
The set-up was unfortunate, playing to the True Crime trope that says every story needs to be based on some You Won’t Believe This clickbait bombshell. One suspects that Sobhraj was stupid enough to put himself on the grill once again only because of his monumental ego, but to the programme’s great credit it set about systematically dismantling any remaining pretence that this snake was just some kind of cuddly toy.
The only thing that could be said for the Serpent was that for once he was true to his word – he was open to any and all questioning. And so director Howard went to town, bringing in two retired senior detectives, a forensic psychologist and a succession of eye-witnesses from the time. They analysed, in ferocious detail, a series of crimes committed nearly 50 years ago, before sitting down with Sobhraj in over 30 hours of interrogation.
The result: the Serpent was thrown into a pit of mongooses and torn to shreds. Once the detectives started interviewing Sobhraj, they could barely conceal their anger at his slipperiness, narcissism and contempt for his victims. That moral sense took over the whole programme, actually, turning what had felt like a game at the beginning into a compelling crusade. Sobhraj now claims he never killed anyone.
By the end of three hours of The Real Serpent, I suspect that “the people” will not just have decided but be chiding themselves for enjoying the 2021 drama so much and demanding further action. Sobhraj may be fed up of all the old allegations but a relentless piece of documentary film-making has brought them right back in to focus.
All episodes of The Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer are available now on Channel4.com
