Viewers are demanding Channel 5 ‘pull the plug’ on the final two episodes of new true crime drama Maxine, after many felt the first episode last night was in ‘bad taste’.

The three-part series follows the girlfriend of Ian Huntley, Maxine Carr, taking a look into the Soham murders.

20 years ago, the nation mourned the deaths of 10-year-olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells after Huntley, who worked as a school caretaker and lured them back to his house before murdering them.

Carr, who worked at the school, was later labelled Britain’s Most Hated woman after giving a false alibi to protect Huntley and cover up the crimes.

When the girls disappeared, one of the biggest missing-person searches in Britain’s history began, Huntley quickly embedded himself in the investigation to find the girls with Huntley and Carr giving multiple interviews between them to television crews.

The new series’, which sees Jemma Carlton as Carr and Line of Duty’s Scott Reid as Huntley, synopsis reads: ‘Revisiting the Soham murders through the eyes of school assistant Maxine Carr.’

Viewers however have not been impressed by the series, with many slamming the portrayal of Carr as a victim.

‘Watching a Channel 5 TV drama about Ian Huntley and I must be getting old cos I’m struggling not to find it all in the most absurdly bad taste,’ one person wrote.

Another penned: ‘If you’re going to turn the horrific deaths of two little girls into a drama, completely ignoring the trauma it will likely cause to the families, then you could at least make it well. This is terrible. Poorly acted and attempting to make her a victim.’

‘#Maxine trying really hard to make her out to be a victim here! 15 minutes in and I’m finding it all a bit in bad taste,’ someone else wrote.

Ian Huntley murdered 10-year-olds Jessica Chapman and Holly Wells (Picture: PA)

The series sees Jemma Carlton as Carr and Line of Duty’s Scott Reid as Huntley (Picture: Channel 5)

However, one viewer defended Maxine’s character, writing: ‘I’m not really reading #Maxine as a victim here – I think it’s trying to show that she had a choice to come forward on many occasions, to question, to help the case, and she didn’t. She knew, even if she just suspected it, and chose not to do anything. She made it all about her.’

On 17 August, the bodies of the girls were found – mere hours after Huntley and Carr were arrested.

Huntley – whose name was added to those of Peter Sutcliffe, Ian Brady and Fred West on the list of the UK’s most evil killers – was convicted of the murders and handed two life sentences with a minimum term of 40 years, while Carr was jailed for three-and-a-half after she was found guilty of perverting the course of justice.

Maxine Carr was jailed for three-and-a-half years and now lives under an assumed name (Picture: Reuters)

Rather than fade into obscurity as most killers do, Huntley has remained in the headlines in the years since he was sent away to serve his life sentence.

He was in the news in 2005 after being attacked by a fellow inmate, in 2006 following a failed suicide bid and in 2007 after a reported hunger strike.

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His throat was slashed by another lag in 2010 and in early 2018 one newspaper reported that the double child killer had been recorded confessing and saying he was ‘genuinely, genuinely sorry’.

Carr, on the other hand, lives under an assumed name as a result of the rare ‘Mary Bell’ anonymity order imposed upon her release from prison.

Maxine continues tonight at 9pm on Channel 5.

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Viewers have slammed the series, calling it ‘in bad taste’.