Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story (BBC1)
North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un uses lookalikes as bait to thwart assassins. Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly has a team of them. And now Piers Morgan has his own body double.
Robert Glenister imitated the abrasive presenter’s gestures and voice with uncanny accuracy in the true crime drama Kidnapped: The Chloe Ayling Story, using an exact transcript of Good Morning Britain and slumping into a pose that radiated both boredom and irritation, alongside Louise Delamere as co-host Susannah Reid.
The scene provided a nice vehicle for explaining this story, as Piers and Susannah recaptured why Chloe (played here by Nadia Parkes) was on the show. In Milan for a photoshoot in 2017, she was seized by masked men, who drugged her before holding her for ransom on a farm in the Italian mountains.
A sceptical Piers accused her of lying to police and questioned why one of her kidnappers had taken her shopping in a nearby village.
The horrific story of Chloe Ayling (pictured: Nadia Parkes as Chloe) has been retold in a new TV series, Kidnapped
The six-part drama follows a terrifying kidnapping, her bravery in captivity and the trial that put her kidnappers behind bars (pictured: Nadia Parkes as Chloe)
There were widespread claims on social media that the story had been staged for publicity (pictured is Chloe in Celebrity Big Brother)
A great example of how obsessed television is with celebrities and themselves: yesterday the real Chloe sat down with actress Nadia on the sofa again to be interviewed for This Morning by Rylan and Josie Gibson.
Piers wasn’t the only one to doubt Chloe’s kidnapping claims. Social media was abuzz with speculation that the story was a set-up, staged for publicity. The main accusations against her were that she didn’t seem angry enough, that she hadn’t tried to escape or screamed for help while shopping, and that it all sounded completely improbable.
This six-part drama, which began with the first two half-hour episodes, takes Chloe’s story literally, but invites viewers to provide their own explanations for what’s really going on.
Although she has been captured by at least two men, we only see one. He goes by his initials MD. He tells her that she has been kidnapped by a gang of human traffickers who will auction her off as a slave on the Dark Web unless she can buy her freedom.
Chloe Ayling’s story aired on BBC Three at 9pm on Wednesday
Lukasz Herba (pictured, in court) remains in prison after being sentenced to 16 years in 2018, but this sentence was later reduced by five years. He is expected to be released early next year.
But as he begs her for sex and tries to gain her trust by bringing her food and letting her sleep in his bed, she can’t tell whether he’s a lonely fantasist or a pawn in an organized crime ring – and her only hope for survival.
Nadia Parkes gives a great performance, looking all dolled up for the TV cameras but feeling disheveled and confused as a hostage.
Author Georgia Lester draws parallels between Chloe’s life in captivity and her role in the fashion industry. Wherever she goes, she is seen as an object to be sold and exploited. In a flashback, Adrian Edmondson, as her sweaty agent, runs a measuring tape around her thighs before berating her for eating “doughnuts and egg rolls.”
Whatever the truth of Chloe’s ordeal, young women like her have little protection in a predatory world. Glamour is a greedy business.
