‘Dennis Nilsen preyed on those who fell through the cracks’: David Tennant on playing the serial killer

Many actors would think twice before agreeing to play an infamous serial killer. But for David Tennant, who stars in ITV’s three-part true crime drama, Des, the opportunity to play Dennis Nilsen had been building for a long time.

Nilsen, who was convicted in 1983 of a series of murders, was a very ordinary monster with a simple yet disturbingly successful method. He would invite young men, many of whom were without roots, to his house in the north London suburb of Muswell Hill, where he offered them food and drink before killing them.

His crimes were uncovered when the tenants at 23 Cranley Gardens, the block of flats in which he lived, called in a specialist to deal with blocked drains. The blockage was caused by human remains. Almost 40 years later, Nilsen remains