Channel 5 documentary looks at the murders of two EastEnders stars
A Channel 5 documentary, airing tonight, looks at the murders of actresses Gemma McCluskie and Sian Blake.
Gemma as Robbie Jackson’s two-timing girlfriend in EastEnders
Gemma, who starred as Kerry Skinner in the BBC soap between 2000-2001, was murdered by her older brother Tony in March 2012. The siblings had clashed over an overflowing sink.
Following her murder, Tony dismembered his sister’s body at the flat they had shared in Shoreditch before dumping it in London’s Regent’s canal – where it was incrementally discovered.
Tony, who had brazenly appealed for information on ‘missing’ Gemma’s whereabouts was arrested within days of the actress’s torso turning up in the canal. He was later jailed for life.
43-year-old Sian Blake, who played soul-singing slapper Frankie Pierre in the East London set saga between 1996-1997, was murdered just before Christmas 2015 by her partner, Arthur Simpson-Kent – who also killed their two young sons, eight-year-old Zachary and Amon, who was four.
He buried all three bodies in shallow graves in the back garden of their home in Erith, before fleeing to his native Ghana. Captured and returned to the UK, Simpson-Kent was given a whole life sentence, meaning he’s likely to die in prison.
In Channel 5 programme The EastEnders Murders friends and experts recall the real-life tragedies that befell Gemma and Sian, the horror of their lives being taken so brutally by men who should have taken the greatest care of them.
The EastEnders Murders, Wednesday 11th October at 10pm on Channel 5
