Directed by BAFTA nominee John Dower Sophie: A Murder in West Cork is a three-part series examining the death of French documentary producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier.

On December 23 1996, the body of du Plantier was discovered outside her remote holiday cottage near Schull in West Cork. The attack had been savage and merciless. The murder caused shock waves in her native France and in the quiet Cork countryside she had chosen as her retreat from the high-flying lifestyle of the film business in which she and her husband mixed.

The crime was reported by a local journalist, Ian Bailey, who was at the forefront of the case until he became the prime murder suspect. Arrested twice, he was released without charge. In 2019 he was convicted – in his absence – by the French Criminal court in Paris. In October 2020 the High Court ruled that Ian Bailey could not be extradited to France to serve the 25-year prison sentence. Ian Bailey has written to Netflix twice to request his scenes be removed from the upcoming documentary, but Netflix have confirmed that the scenes will remain.

The murder investigation has become something of a national obsession in both Ireland and France, spawning a podcast (West Cork) and several books, including A Dream of Death by Ralph Riegel and Death in December by Michael Sheridan. Sheridan also wrote The Murder of Sophie: How I Hunted and Haunted the West Cork Killer, with editor Shaun Attwood.

So what can we expect of the new series? Firstly it was filmed in West Cork, Ireland and in France. Contributors include du Plantier’s family, including her son Pierre-Louis Baudey, alongside residents from Schull and the local press.

The executive producers of the series are Suzanne Lavery and Oscar-winner Simon Chinn. They have stated, “Sophie was much more than a victim of a murder. She was a mother, a daughter, a sister, a filmmaker and a writer. Whatever actually happened on that cold December night in 1996, the story is one of a collision of worlds, cultures and characters and it was that which drew us to it. But it was meeting and gaining the trust of Sophie’s family which really gave us our purpose. Justice has eluded them for a quarter of a century since Sophie’s death and their main aim in cooperating with us to make this series is to do justice to her memory. We hope we have achieved that, for them.”

“I’m a great believer in ensemble filmmaking with a large cast of storytellers, because a story is never simple,” says John Dower, the director of the upcoming three-part documentary series Sophie: A Murder in West Cork. “You need all those different takes and angles to get to the richer, more compelling stories. I also always look for people who have genuinely lived the story we are telling.”

The extensive ensemble cast (see below) includes friends of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, with exclusive contributions from Sophie’s family including her son Pierre-Louis Baudey, parents George and Marguerite Bouniol, uncle, Jean Pierre Gazeau, aunt Marie Madeleine Opalka, and her cousin, Frédéric Gazeau, who also serves as an associate producer on the series.

Others who participate in the documentary include members of the Schull community, detectives involved in the case and journalists who followed the story.

Executive producer, Suzanne Lavery explains: “In making this documentary we wanted to honour Sophie, her family and that rural community in the South West of Ireland. Even now, I find it genuinely astonishing that something so terrible could have happened not just to a woman who appeared to have such a gilded life but in such a beautiful place and to a community that prided itself on its peacefulness, its safety and inclusivity. It’s what drew Sophie there. What does seem so tragic, is that Sophie’s perfect escape turned out to be where she lost her life. And the shock of it still reverberates in that community 25 years later.”

Sophie: A Murder in West Cork is from Oscar-winning producer of Searching for Sugar Man and Man on Wire, Simon Chinn and will launch on Netflix on June 30.

Participating in the documentary are the following:

Family and Friends of Sophie Toscan du Plantier:
George and Marguerite Bouniol – Sophie’s parents
Pierre Louis Baudey Vignaud – Sophie’s son
Jean Pierre Gazeau – Sophie’s uncle
Marie Madeleine Opalka – Sophie’s aunt
Frédéric Gazeau – Sophie’s cousin
Agnes Thomas – Sophie’s Friend

Past and present members of the Schull Community:
Len Lipitch: Jewellery Designer
Peter Bielecki: Sculptor
Elizabeth Wassell : Writer
Diane Martin: Psychic
Toma McCullim: local artist
Denis Quinlan: Former Landlord of The Courtyard Pub in Schull
Billy O’ Sullivan: Publican – O’Sullivans
Florence Newman: Schull Local
Claire Wilkinson: Actress and former Schull Resident

Journalists involved in the story
Michael Sheridan – Sunday Independent
Barry Roche – Irish Times
Paul Byrne – Virgin Media News
Lara Marlowe – Irish Times Paris Correspondent
Daniel Caron – Ireland and UK Correspondent RTL
Viv Hargreaves – Gloucester Citizen

Witnesses called to testify against Ian Bailey
Irune Reed: Neighbour and mother of Malachi Reed
Malachi Reed: Schull resident
Billy Fuller: Schull resident
Richard and Rosie Shelley: Schull residents (note: Rosie Shelley died in Jan 2020)
Marie Farrell: Schull shopkeeper
Arianna Boarina: Italian visitor staying with Bailey and his partner, Jules Thomas at the time of the murder.

Detectives, Lawyers and forensic experts
Eugene Gilligan: Garda Forensic detective
Dermot Dwyer: Garda Detective Superintendent
Frank Buttimer: Ian Bailey’s solicitor – 2005- present