Described as a “definitive” account of the lives and crimes of Fred and Rose West, two of the UK’s most prolific murderers, this new documentary series focuses on recently discovered police recordings and first-person accounts.
Directed by the award-winning Dan Dewsbury and produced by Blink Films, the series follows the disturbing and harrowing events that took place between the 1960s into late 1980s, centering around the victims’ families and how Gloucestershire Constabulary uncovered the crimes.
Line Producer Paul Bean said… “I just wanted to extend my personal thanks, and on behalf of the whole team here, for all your help on the Fred West series this year. I really appreciate all of your hard work to make this happen so smoothly, and especially Alice’s tireless day-to-day running of the post production.
Please also pass on our thanks to everyone else on the team who worked on the show – Katherine, Duncan, Caoimhe, Karl, Ben, Jack, Eduard, Tom, Adam, Simon as well as everyone on the tech team (Charlie, Connor and others).”
Senior Re-Recording Mixer Simon Hill said… “One of the key challenges was working with the newly uncovered early police interview tapes of Fred and Rose West. These recordings varied significantly in quality and character. Simply put, it’s just transcribed text with audio playback. How could we elevate this with sound? We wanted to honour their rawness… while also create an interesting and immersive experience for the audience. To do that, we created distinct sonic environments – what we called the “tape space” – where these interviews could breathe. These aren’t just moments of playback; they’re psychological spaces, where sound becomes a lens for the tension, emotion and subtext behind every word.
Moving between archive footage and these playback environments, we used sound to guide the audience seamlessly, helping shape mood and subtext. A simple “No.” from Fred can carry layers of implication, and through heavy use of delay & reverb, we emphasized the weight behind even the smallest of responses. The show often plays with the idea that what seems small is actually massive, so we echoed that in the design: tiny tape mechanisms are replaced with deep, slowed-down metallic groans of trains clanging over train tracks, morphing into heartbeat pulses for that extra layer of ‘dread’.
The audience already knows who Fred and Rose are. They might laugh through the absurdity of their situation or act surprised at the accusations, but we can use sound to expose the unsettling contrast – accenting the darkness behind the humour with ominous textures, warped pitch of our small-but-big sound design, and adding digital distortions throughout the tape space. It’s less about what’s said and more about what’s really going on underneath.”
Halo Provided Full Picture and Sounds Post Production.
Colourists: Duncan Russell, Katherine Jamieson
Online Editors: Jack Waters, Eduard Fadgyas
Grade Support: Caoimhe McCarthy, Karl Barnes-Dallas
Dubbing Mixer: Simon Hill
Sound Editors: Adam Johnson, Tom Foster, Maggy Apodaca, Jay Price
Post Producer: Alice Boreham
Halo Sales Exec: Jay Makwana
Fred & Rose West: A British Horror Story will be streaming on Netflix from 14th May, 2025.