The Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer - True story behind Channel 4 series
What were the real-life events behind the gripping documentary?
The man who inspired BBC drama The Serpent back in 2021 faces a real-life interrogation in new Channel 4 documentary, The Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer.
The documentary sees Charles Sobhraj confronted by two former Met Police detectives about murders he was linked to but never tried for, with Sobhraj strongly denying that he killed anyone.
A forensic psychologist also conducts "hours of interviews with the serial killer to make an assessment about whether he is a psychopath and still presents a danger to the public".
Here's everything you need to know about the real-life events behind the new documentary.
The Real Serpent: Investigating a Serial Killer true story
Widely considered a psychopath, real-life French killer and conman Charles Sobhraj (nicknamed “The Serpent” and “The Bikini Killer”) was the chief suspect in at least a dozen murders of Western travellers that took place in South Asia in the 1970s.
Sobrahj previously confessed to ten murders while being interviewed and recorded by authors Richard Neville and Julie Clarke for their 1979 book, but retracted his statement and has since said he never killed anyone.
In one apparent 'confession', which features in the new Channel 4 documentary and which Sobrahj has now retracted, he recalled: “She said, ‘Did you give me something? Because I feel very funny’. I said, ‘Teresa, I’m sorry to say to you but I think I have to do something bad to you’.”
In another tape, he seemingly confessed to the murder of Turkish man Vitali Hakim, whose burned body was discovered at the beach resort of Pattaya a few weeks later.
In the now retracted confession, he says: “I took one of his clothes, I put it on his face, I poured gasoline on it. I started running to the car because there would be a big flame and then woosh.”
How was Charles Sobrahj caught?
For a time, Sobhraj was Interpol’s most-wanted man, but his capture was thanks in part to the determination of a 30-something junior Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg.
In February 1976, Knippenberg began looking into the case of two missing Dutch travellers while he was working in Bangkok at the Dutch embassy: Henk Bintanja and Cornelia 'Cocky' Hemker.
Knippenberg recalled an article he had read two months earlier about two murdered Australian backpackers, and after some investigatory work he soon realised that the burnt bodies had been misidentified - they were, in fact, the Dutch couple he sought, Bintanja and Hemker.
Read more:
- Eugene Levy gets candid about personal growth in The Reluctant Traveler
- David Attenborough announces groundbreaking new Sky documentary
Knippenberg had unwittingly walked into Sobhraj’s intricate web of crime, and would spend the coming months hunting down the mysterious French 'gem dealer,' who was finally apprehended later that year, in July 1976.
He served his sentence in India from 1976 to 1997, before returning to France. However, during a trip to Nepal in 2003 he was arrested again, and given a life sentence for two murders committed in 1975.
By entering your details, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
The Real Serpent is available now on Channel 4. Looking for something else to watch? Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight.
Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
