Michael McConville, one of the ten children of IRA murder victim Jean McConville, has slammed the new series "Say Nothing" which features the disappearance of his mother as a major plot line.
"Say Nothing," an adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe's 2018 bestselling book of the same name, debuted on Hulu in the US on November 14, and on Disney+ internationally the same day.
An official synopsis of the nine-episode series says: "Spanning four decades, the series opens with the shocking disappearance of Jean McConville, a single mother of ten who was abducted from her home in 1972 and never seen alive again.
"Telling the story of various Irish Republican Army (IRA) members, 'Say Nothing' explores the extremes some people will go to in the name of their beliefs, the way a deeply divided society can suddenly tip over into armed conflict, the long shadow of radical violence for all affected, and the emotional and psychological costs of a code of silence."
In a statement released on Wednesday, November 20 via the Wave Trauma Centre, a charity that provides care and support for people affected by The Troubles in Northern Ireland, Michael McConville said: "In relation to the Say Nothing series currently on Disney+, I have not watched it nor do I intend watching it.
"I have no interest in it.
"Disney is renown for entertainment.
"My mother's death is not 'entertainment' for me and my family.
"This is our reality, every day for 52 years.
"And although we live with it every single day and it never goes away, the timing of this is particularly bad given that it is my mother's anniversary on 1 December.
"I just don't think people realise how hurtful this is.
"The portrayal of the execution and secret burial of my mother is horrendous and unless you have lived through it, you will never understand just how cruel it is.
"Everyone knows the story of Jean McConville: even Hillary Clinton who I met a few years ago knew my mother's story.
"And yet here is another telling of it that I and my family have to endure.
"Eventually this series will be forgotten and the people who made it will have moved on to something else.
"They can do that.
"I can't."
May 22, 2000: (L to R) Billy, Thomas, Michael, Arthur and Robert McConville on Templetown Beach, Co Louth during one of the searches for their mother Jean.(RollingNews.ie)
McConville expressed similar sentiments in 2019 when the show got the green light: “Using what happened to our mother for entertainment is sickening.
“To make money out of her murder and the pain that has been in our lives ever since is cruel and obscene.”
He added: “I doubt they even think of us as real people.
“We’re just characters in a story to be played with and forgotten about when they move onto the next money-maker.
"They call it drama but for us it’s trauma. They will have someone pretending to be the mother we loved."
May 22, 2000: (L to R) Billy, Arthur, Michael and Thomas McConville on on Templetown Beach, Co Louth during one of the searches for their mother Jean. (RollingNews.ie)
McConville's statement comes the week after the Wave Trauma Centre acknowledged the debut of the new show, saying: "As the drama series Say Nothing airs tonight our thoughts are with the Families of the Disappeared especially those of Jean McConville, Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee, and Joe Lynskey.
"The deep trauma that these families suffered has not diminished over the years and anything that causes them to have to revisit those terrible events is going to be very difficult for them."
As the drama series Say Nothing airs tonight our thoughts are with the Families of the Disappeared especially those of Jean McConville, Seamus Wright, Kevin McKee and Joe Lynskey.
The deep trauma that these families suffered has not diminished over the years and anything that… pic.twitter.com/QCURqcXZWU
— WAVE Trauma Centre (@WAVETrauma) November 14, 2024
Meanwhile, Patrick Radden Keefe, the author of "Say Nothing," told BBC News NI that he engaged with the Wave Trauma Centre as well as the McConville family.
Wave Trauma Centre further told BBC News NI that Keefe and series producer Michael Lennox met families of the Disappeared, including Michael McConville and other members of the family. They said each meeting lasted several hours.
Jean McConville and the 'Disappeared' of The Troubles
The Independent Commission for the Location of Victims’ Remains (ICLVR) officially lists 17 people as having been 'disappeared' during The Troubles. 13 bodies, including McConville's, have been recovered, while four are still missing. (The Wave Trauma Centre includes an additional two people in its list of who was 'disappeared.')
In the 2012 book "The Disappeared of Northern Ireland's 'Troubles,'" published by the Wave Trauma Centre, Michael McConville recalled the frantic moments he last saw his mother alive in 1972.
"A rap came to the door and a gang of men and women piled into the flat. They were looking for our mother and when they got her they tried to pull her outside. We were all crying and holding on to her so they stopped and tried to calm us down; they said that (his brother) Archie could go with her but when they got Archie and mother outside they told Archie to **** off.
"We looked from the balcony as they bundled her into a van. There were two cars with men and women in them, in total there was about 18 people who took my mother away. I have no idea why it took so many as she wasn't a big woman."
In 1999, after the Good Friday Agreement, the IRA admitted to the murder of Jean McConville, who they believed had been passing information to British forces.
It was August 2003 before Jean McConville's remains were discovered at Shelling Beach in Co Louth. Forensic tests revealed she had been badly beaten and shot in the back of the head.
The McConville family, however, is not convinced by the narrative of the discovery of their mother's body.
"Apparently this man came across her body by accident; he found a rag and started digging with his kids' bucket and spade and then he came across a human bone and when he dug some more he got her body," Michael has said.
"This is the official version but the family have always disputed this; I think it is too convenient. My mother was missing for over 30 years and her body just happened to be found on a beach by a man playing with his kids," he added.
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