Real Serpent viewers have branded Charles Sobhraj’s new documentary “boring” and accused Channel 4 of creating a “nice little PR tour” for the murderer.
The documentary series follows the 79-year-old French serial killer, following his release from a Nepalese prison in 2022 after 20 years behind bars for killing two tourists in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1975.
He was linked to at least 20 murders across the Far East in the 1970s and 1980s and was the subject of the hit 2021 BBC drama The Serpent.
The Channel 4 show sees Charles being interviewed by detectives and psychologists, which he said he agreed to in order to “present the facts” and reveal his “truth”.
He said he wanted to quell “false accusations” surrounding his exploits, admitting to putting innocent travelers to sleep but claiming “no one died from my drugs”.
Real Serpent viewers have branded Charles Sobhraj’s new documentary “boring”, accusing Channel 4 of creating a “nice little PR tour” for the murderer.
The documentary series follows the 79-year-old French serial killer, following his release from a Nepalese prison in 2022 after 20 years behind bars for killing two tourists in Kathmandu, Nepal, in 1975 (1997 photo).
He has been linked to at least 20 murders across the Far East in the 1970s and 1980s and was the subject of the hit 2021 BBC drama, The Serpent (pictured, Tahar Rahim as Charles)
Charles insisted: “I did wrong. I did something wrong, I recognized it, I admitted it. I have harmed some people and those harms were certainly immoral, but I did not go so far as to kill anyone.
The documentary was filmed at a secret location in London just weeks after his two-decade stay in a prison in Nepal.
In a bizarre attempt to hide from the public eye, he donned a wig and fake mustache and took time to reminisce about his notorious days as a conman in the 1970s.
Elsewhere, the in-depth documentary reveals the life of a “troublesome child” whose Indian father Sobhraj Hatchard Bavani and Vietnamese mother Tran Loang Phun divorced when he was young.
However, viewers of Tuesday night’s premiere episode were unimpressed with the docuseries, calling it “tedious” and wondering how it would be stretched to fill three episodes.
Many pointed out the fact that Charles gave evasive and weak answers to the majority of questions, while others criticized the show for giving a serial killer a platform to “spill his BS narrative.”
Taking to social media, they shared: “God this is boring. The people at Channel 4 obviously thought they had some really juicy gossip, but this is just tedious. And the interviewers they have aren’t great either!
“How is @Channel4 going to string this c**p #therealserpent together for three episodes. He manages to say nothing without ever remaining silent; He’s now a silly little old man who talks a lot about flannel. Nothing more.’
The Channel 4 show sees Charles being interviewed by detectives and psychologists, which he said he agreed to in order to “present the facts” and reveal his “truth”.
He said he wanted to quell “false accusations” surrounding his exploits, admitting to putting innocent travelers to sleep but claiming “no one died from my drugs” (pictured in December).
“Can ask me any question,” he said at the beginning. He didn’t answer a single question; They give this outlet way too much airtime, allowing it to tell its BS story.
‘Losing your will with the documentary The Serpent. He cuts them off as soon as the questions become too intrusive. Nice little PR tour to make it fair; “You can ask me any question” *continually interrupts’.
Meanwhile, BBC and Netflix drama series The Serpent enjoyed huge success upon its release in 2021, gaining 31 million viewers as soon as the final episode aired.
Charles preyed on and murdered Western tourists throughout Southeast Asia in the 1970s.
After fleeing to the Far East to escape his previous life in France, Charles found himself with a French-Canadian lover, Marie-Andrée Leclerc, who followed him slavishly as he exerted a sway similar to a cult following on travelers to Bangkok, many of whom have never been. reviewed.
He was branded the Bikini Killer after two of his victims were found wearing just a bikini, while he was also known as the Serpent for his ability to evade justice for his crimes for years.
Charles and Marie-Andrée, who used the pseudonym Monique, made friends with Western tourists in bars and hotels and invited them to stay in their apartment.
The couple threw parties for their “guests” and took them to nightclubs in Bangkok, before Charles tricked them into handing over their money for his scams.
However, viewers were unimpressed with the docuseries, calling it “tedious” due to Charles’ evasive answers to the majority of questions, while others criticized the series for giving a killer serially a platform to “spread his BS narrative.”
Meanwhile, BBC and Netflix drama series The Serpent enjoyed huge success upon its release in 2021, gaining 31 million viewers as soon as the final episode aired (pictured).
If they refused to help him, he would poison them, drugging them with a crude mixture of laxatives, sedatives, and vomiting-inducing drugs.
Those who survived were stabbed, strangled, drowned or burned alive, their bodies dumped by roadsides or on beaches, with Thai police apparently uninterested.
Charles then took their cash or travelers checks and stole their passports. The total number of murders he committed is unknown.
He was first arrested in 1976 while attempting to drug an entire group of French students in New Delhi. One of them understood his plan and handed it over to the authorities.
He spent a total of 21 years in prison in India, where he was incarcerated for culpable homicide for poisoning a French tourist and killing an Israeli. He was released in 1997.
While in prison, Thai authorities attempted to extradite Charles and he threw a big party for the inmates and guards. He drugged them all with sleeping pills and managed to escape from the prison.
Justice caught up with him again in Nepal in 2004, when he was jailed for the murder of American tourist Connie Joe Bronzich in 1975.
In 2014, he was sentenced to a second life sentence for the murder of Canadian backpacker Laurent Carriere, whose passport he had used to flee Nepal after killing the two men.
Charles and his French-Canadian lover Marie-Andrée Leclerc attacked and murdered Western tourists throughout Southeast Asia in the 1970s (photographed together in 1986)