Many viewers predicted they'd have nightmares on Monday night after witnessing David Tennant's chilling performance in ITV's dark new drama Des.
The three part series is based on the real-life murders carried out by Dennis Nilsen, the UK's most prolific serial killer of all time and the man responsible for a reported 16 deaths of young men.
Nilsen murdered the youngsters in his flat from 1978 to 1983. He would meet and befriend the men before offering them food or lodgings for the evening back at his flat.
His victims were often homeless or living off grid, having slipped through the cracks of 1980s society and were therefore welcoming of this stranger’s apparent generosity.
Nilsen got away with his horrific crimes for five years, until reports of human fragments of flesh and bone clogging the drain at his London home.
It was then that the police realised they had a serial killer on their hands and, being questioned, Nilsen told them he'd murdered "15 or 16 people."
The dramatisation of that horrific confession sent some serious shivers down the spine during Monday's first episodes as, leading the Des cast, David Tennant's new on-screen alias cut a cool, calculated but unnervingly calm figure on screen as he revealed the extent of his killing spree to stunned detectives.
One Des viewer tweeted: "Arrrghhhh but #DavidTennant creeps me out so hard!!! #Des "... when the bodies began to accumulate" I'll need a nightlight on tonight," and, left in a similar state of fear, another reacted: "No violence or gore, just chilling to the core. What an extraordinary actor #DavidTennant is."
Predicting he'll be showered in accolades for his performance as Nilsen, who died in prison in 2018, another fan posted: "Had a big thing for David Tennant for YEARS.
"Watching him in Des is the first show where I’ve not been thinking about that, such a convincing portrayal, chillingly so. Just give him all the awards now."
