The Role of Social Media

- I'd wanted to write something about social media for a while, who wouldn't?

With how an integral a part of all of our everyday lives it's becoming.

I wanted to explore the notion of anger, societal anger and whether or not it was always there and it just has a form of expression now.

Whether or not social media in and of itself, causes a rage or whether it's somewhere in between that we were a bit angry, but now we have this platform that amplifies it.

- What does it make them feel when they say those things?

- I doubt very much they feel anything at all, mum.

That isn't about dad, or about you, or Hayley.

It's about them.

It's just a mirror people hold up to themselves to shout at.

- [Andy] I really like that, it's a wonderful line.

- I wish I'd stuck with my original line which was 'to spit at'.

- [Andy] Oh, really, okay.

- Yeah because, actually it's a more violent thing than just shouting.

It's more self-loathing as well.

- It is about self-loathing, isn't it?

And that's a huge part of the Unforgotten world as well, isn't it?

You as a writer, you love examining people's self-loathing and where that leads you and whether it's useful or not.

- Anybody now, and everybody has an opinion which they can voice.

You can get onto social media and, potentially, have an audience of millions.

- What Chris is doing is investigating it's accountability.

The fact that accusations can be hurled willy-nilly without any consequence for the accuser and sometimes with quite disastrous consequences.

- I love that fact that we have a media consultant for the first time, at the police station and Cassie has to go in and be briefed by a media consultant.

- Andrews wants you to make a holding statement.

- Here?

- The press office are gonna send you something.

- Right.

She's front and center with the press because the case is so high profile and it is in living memory and everyone remembers this girl.

So, yeah, the media coming at them in different ways this year that's the first time that Chris has looked at that.

- It poses some quite tricky questions.

How the police conduct their investigations under increasingly public glare and gaze and what effect that may or may not have on the efficacy of an investigation and the people who conduct the investigation whether it affects them or not.

- Thank you very much.

- [Reporter] DCI Stuart.

Why has it taken eighteen years to find her?

- DCI Stuart.

Why are the police so useless?

(cameras clicking)