It’s a real tragedy that sometimes children go missing all over the world, and some of those cases are more secretive and widely spread than others. One of the most well-known cases is of Madeleine McCann.
Madeleine disappeared on May 3, 2007, from a hotel room in Portugal. She was there on a family trip with her twin siblings and her parents, and people have been talking about this ever since. It has been over 10 years, and there is still no consensus about what occurred that day…. but there is a Netflix documentary series about it.
The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann started streaming on the service in March 2019, and there are eight episodes in the first season. It’s not a big surprise a documentary series about Madeleine McCann was released on the popular platform, as there is such a large mystery surrounding the toddler’s disappearance, but some people might say that there are more questions than answers at this point.
Like other true crime movies, TV series, or podcasts, there is a lot that wasn’t talked about in this eight-part series.
20. THE PARENTS WEREN’T PART OF THE NETFLIX DOC SERIES
According to Mamamia.com.au, Madeleine McCann’s parents weren’t part of the Netflix documentary series. Her mom and dad, Kate and Gerry McCann, decided not to be on it and they said, “We did not see and still do not see how this programme will help the search for Madeleine and particularly given there is an active police investigation, could potentially hinder it.”
If the parents had been involved with the series, whether by producing it and/or appearing on it, it seems like it would have been very different. It seems like this is a pretty big missing element since people would want to hear from the parents.
19. THE PARENTS’ STORIES DIDN’T ALWAYS ADD UP IN THE BEGINNING
If we are familiar with the true crime genre then we know that when someone gives a statement to the cops or a detective, they should definitely stick to that same story. The people looking into a case need to figure out the timeline of events so this is very important.
Something else that we should know about this case is that it seems that Madeleine’s mother, Kate, said a few different things about that night. Mamamia.com.au quoted someone who tweeted after watching the documentary series. They wrote, “The [initial] story has changed multiple times.” They said that Kate said someone had “jemmied the window/blinds open and climbed in through the window…” The tweet continued, “there were no signs of a break in.”
18. MADELAINE SAID SOMETHING WEIRD TO HER MOM THE MORNING BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED
Kate McCann published a book called Madeleine: Our Daughter’s Disappearance and the Continuing Search for Her in 2011. According to Express.co.uk, Kate wrote in the book about something weird that her daughter said to her the morning that she disappeared. Kate said, “At breakfast time, Madeleine had a question for us: ‘Why didn’t you come when Sean and I cried last night?’”
It’s definitely confusing to hear about this, and there is really no way to know why she said this. If this had been the focus of an episode of the documentary series, then maybe we would have some more insight into it. It seems like an important detail that was left out. What if a child psychologist or therapist had been interviewed about what that could have meant?
17. IT SEEMS THE PARENTS WENT OUT FOR DINNER WITHOUT THE KIDS MORE THAN ONCE
People focus on the fact that Madeleine McCann’s parents went out for dinner while she and her twin siblings stayed in the hotel room. As it turns out, her parents went out for dinner without the kids more than once. But since the series is mostly about details that everyone knows about, this was something that was left out.
According to Express.co.uk, “Kate went on to detail how the remark had made her wonder if her daughter had cried while they were out for dinner, which was concerning to her. She added: “Gerry and I were disconcerted, could Madeleine and Sean have woken up while we were at dinner?'”
16. THE NETFLIX SERIES LITERALLY TELLS THE STORY THAT EVERYONE ALREADY KNOWS
The Tab quotes a writer for The Guardian who called The Disappearance Of Madelaine McCann “a simple retelling” and said “it was purely a rehashing of everything anyone who was alive at the time, or who has been of an age to understand the periodic appeals on anniversaries, birthdays and other painful dates by the McCanns for more information in the 12 years that have elapsed since, already knew.”
It seems that the documentary series is simply saying what people already know about the case, so anyone who has been following it ever since that day in May of 2007 wouldn’t find out anything new. The documentary series definitely left out any new facts that people would want to hear about.
15. PEOPLE HAVE MANY IDEAS ABOUT WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED, AND UNFORTUNATELY, THE SERIES DOESN’T TALK ABOUT THEM ALL
The series also left out various ideas surrounding Madeleine McCann’s disappearance. As The Tab says, “These are the nine theories about what happened to Maddie McCann. Only some are explored in the Netflix doc.”
This is hard to understand because if there is going to be an eight-part documentary series about a case like this one, shouldn’t all of the theories be talked about? That seems even more important since the case hasn’t been solved and no one knows what actually took place on May 3rd, 2007. The series is longer than just a two-hour movie, so this is a bit confusing.
14. WHAT THE SERIES FOCUSES ON DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE, MAKING US WONDER WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
There is one theory that is the focus of The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann and it is honestly very intense: the idea that perhaps the child went missing because someone wanted to make money. The Tab says, “Private investigator Julian Peribanez says in the documentary: ‘The value that Madeleine had was really high.'”
While this might be true because, again, we don’t know what happened, we also have to wonder if this makes sense. Is it really the most plausible and likely outcome? If we’re familiar with other TV shows and movies that are part of the true crime genre we might wonder why this editorial choice was made.
13. THE MEDIA COVERAGE BECAME VERY SENSATIONAL AND INTENSE
Something that people should know about this case is that the media coverage became very intense and sensational. In fact, it could be argued that this is the most crucial aspects of the case. As The Atlantic says, “But the institution that profited the most, and the one that’s never really been held to account for how wildly it behaved during that period, is the tabloid press.”
What if the series had a totally different focus and tone and instead of talking about what happened that night and the investigation that followed, it was only about the media coverage? That would have been a new detail.
12. THE DOC SAYS PEOPLE SHOULD COME FORWARD WITH INFO, BUT A LOT OF PEOPLE ALREADY HAVE
The Netflix documentary series also mentions that people should come forward with anything that they know. As Crime Rocket put its, this is “misleading”: “In 2016, nine years after her “disappearance” over 8,000 “sightings” had been recorded, which suggests that the number is closer to 12,000 currently. Whether there are 20 sightings or 200,000 sightings, the result is the same. The only difference is the reality becomes more and more muddled behind a curtain of false information and fake leads.”
The series seems to have left out those two important points: number one, that people have come forward with info that they thought would be helpful, and number two, that it seems none of these people had actually seen Madeleine.
11. IT DOESN’T MAKE SENSE THAT THE TWINS WERE FAST ASLEEP THROUGH SO MUCH COMMOTION
People who have been following the case of Madeleine McCann have a question about what happened the night that she went missing. As Mamamia.com.ausays, “Madeleine’s younger twin siblings, Sean and Amelia, slept through the night on the day she disappeared. Even when the McCann’s friends and police were walking in and out of the room during the night while they were trying to find out what happened to Madeleine.”
Why didn’t the twins wake up? Wasn’t it super loud? This is a question that anyone would have after watching the documentary series, and it’s definitely a question that has no answer as of yet.
10. THE MOM WOULDN’T REPLY TO 48 QUESTIONS
Well, 48 questions is a lot, and it makes sense that in a missing person case like this one, people would have to answer a ton of questions. According to The Sun, “A list of questions that Kate McCann refused to answer during police questions has recently reemerged, published first by The Independent. Kate used her right to silence in 2007.”
People are wondering why Kate didn’t answer these 48 questions, and this is another question that we have even after watching the documentary series, The Disappearance Of Madeleine McCann. Why wouldn’t she want to answer these questions? Wouldn’t it have been better to answer them?
9. WHY WAS A RANDOM WOMAN BROUGHT UP IN THE DOC?
As Mamamia.com.au says, “In the documentary, a man recalls being in Barcelona on the night Madeleine disappeared. He said he was walking along a street when a woman approached him.” The woman had questions for him: “Do you have the girl? Do you have my new daughter for me?” He couldn’t answer and she left.
Why was this woman brought up in the documentary series… and shouldn’t there have been a bigger explanation of who she is? It seems like a random detail to include, and what if this man wasn’t actually telling the truth and wasn’t a reliable person to talk to?
8. TAPAS 7 MEMBERS CLAIMED THEY SAW ROBERT MURAT NEARBY, THEN SAID NO THEY DIDN’T
Robert Murat was talked to in the early investigation of the case, and while he is mentioned in the documentary series, there are a few details that are left unexplained.
According to Mamamia.com.au, there is one thing in particular that should have been a lot clearer. As the website says, “Several members of the Tapas 7 said they had seen Robert Murat hanging around apartment 5A in the hours after Maddie was reported as missing. Murat said he was at his house all night and didn’t know about the disappearance until early the next morning. He was later cleared of having any connection to Maddie’s disappearance.”
The website asks, “If Murat wasn’t there, why did the Tapas 7 say he was? Why were they so keen to point the finger at him?”
This is a really good question, and we wonder why this wasn’t answered in the doc.
7. THERE IS NO DISCUSSION ABOUT WHY THE PARENTS ARE ACTING KIND OF STRANGE
Something else that was left out of the series: the fact that the parents were acting kind of strange after this happened.
Someone who posted in a Reddit thread thinks that this is because they are doctors. They wrote that people said the parents acted this way because they felt bad “for not checking up as often or thoroughly.” They continued in their Reddit post, “they’re in a profession where you’re taught to be in control your emotions in stressful situations. Their behavior is pretty on par for doctors.”
The series could have gone into detail about how doctors have to act detached and formal, and that could have been an interesting detail to include.
6. A GIRL ACTUALLY TRIED TO SAY THAT SHE’S MADELAINE, AND THAT WASN’T EXPLORED
Something else that was left out of the documentary series is the fact that a girl said that she was actually Madeline McCann. This turned out not to be true and she was trying to be funny (and, of course, there is absolutely nothing funny about this).
As Newshub.co.nz said in 2017, “Harriet Brookes sent a message to a friend claiming to be the missing child because of similar birthmarks on her eye and leg.”
If the series included an episode focusing on all of the people who said that they had seen the child in various places, then the girl pretending to be her could have been mentioned in that episode as well.
5. THE MOM’S BEHAVIOR WHEN IT HAPPENED IS CONFUSING
It seems that people think that the mom’s behavior on the night that her daughter disappeared is pretty confusing. As someone posted in a Reddit thread, “Did Kate run back to the group or did they come running when she started screaming? The documentary seemed to say both.”
The series could have gone deeper into how Kate actually acted the night that this happened. Doesn’t anyone know whether she told her husband and friends about what was going on, or they heard her, as the Reddit poster pointed out? Why wasn’t this cleared up? Some people might say that your memory of a tough and sad event isn’t always perfect, which is true, but it still seems like a crucial detail.
4. THE DETAIL ABOUT THE PERSON WHO WENT INTO THE HOTEL ROOM WHERE MADELINE WAS SLEEPING ISN’T FULLY EXPLAINED
This Reddit post brings another detail up that was left out of the documentary: “Who were the people who supposedly checked on Madeline the night she went missing? Did they physically see her in her bed? Does anyone have a clear timeline of who last saw her?”
This is an important question, and it seems confusing that while the documentary series talks about all of the things that people already know about this case, there are still some things that were left out. It just doesn’t seem like the doc series went into enough depth or talked about enough facts.
3. IT SEEMS THE HOTEL ROOM DOOR WASN’T CLOSED… AND PEOPLE DEFINITELY WANT TO KNOW WHY
The Tab says, “The Netflix doc states that the apartment door was left open.” This is a really big detail about the case.
Why wasn’t the door closed? And why wasn’t this explained in the documentary?
It makes sense that people would want to know why the parents did this. We also have to wonder, once again, why the parents didn’t want to be involved with the series. While they said that it would “hinder” the case, wouldn’t it have been a good and useful idea for them to be part of it so they could explain all of these unanswered questions?
2. HOW HAS THIS AFFECTED THE TWINS (AND THE FAMILY UNIT AS A WHOLE)?
Since we weren’t able to watch Kate and Gerry McCann talk about their missing daughter in The Disappearance Of Madeline McCann since they decided not to be involved, we didn’t learn more about the twins and what their lives are like today.
Their other two children, Sean and Amelie, are 15 years old today. They were born in 2005. The series left out details about these twins, and we want to know more about them and find out how the family dynamic shifted after their sister disappeared. This would be such a big strain on a family so it seems like this should have been explored.
1. THERE SHOULD BE MORE OF A DISCUSSION ABOUT NOT LEAVING KIDS ALONE IN HOTEL ROOMS
It is of course always heartbreaking when a child goes missing, and in the case of Madeleine McCann, people are upset about the parents leaving their children in a hotel room while they went for dinner. Parents, in particular, have been concerned about this, which makes sense.
It seems like the documentary series should have included a discussion about why you shouldn’t leave kids alone in hotel rooms. This is definitely a safety issue and something that people should become more aware of. Even with a first season consisting of eight episodes, this was a detail that was left out, and there are still a lot of questions on people’s minds about this case.