The Scottish serial killer inspiring 'electrifying' new play

The Herald Scotland

6 hours ago

It has commissioned an adaptation of a book by best-selling crime writer Denise Mina, which 'reimagines' a night Manuel spent in Glasgow with William Watt, who had spent 67 days behind bars while under suspicion for the murders of three members of his family.
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The 'electrifying' script by Glasgow-based playwright Linda McLean is described as 'equal parts psychological thriller and pitch-black comedy".
McLean's previously plays include Glory on Earth, which imagined a series of encounters between Mary Queen of Scots and John Knox.
Her new stage play will be premiered at the Citz in June, nine years after the publication of Mina's book, the author's first 'true crime' novel.
It was based on the extraordinary events which unfolded after the Burnside home of former Watt, a former police officer, was broken into in September 1956 while he was on a fishing holiday in Argyll, and his wife, his daughter and his sister-in-law were shot in their beds.
Crime writer Denise Mina's book on Peter Manuel, The Long Drop, is being turned into a new play which will be premiered at the revamped Citizens Theatre in Glasgow next year.
Watt, who had admitted to the police that he had been unfaithful to his wife, became the prime suspect, but was released from Barlinnie prison after 67 days when the case against him collapsed due to a lack of evidence.
Manuel, who was sent to Barlinnie weeks after Watt for an attempted break-in, had sought the other man out and told him that he knew who was responsible for the Burnside murders.
Crowds gather for the trial of Peter Manuel in Glasgow in 1958. (Image: The Herald)
To try to clear his name, Watt hired the celebrated defence lawyer Lawrence Dowdall, who carried out his own painstaking investigation and met Manuel on several occasions.
He became convinced that Manuel was responsible, not least because he was able to give the lawyer detailed descriptions of the Watt house and the shootings.
Denise Mina's Peter Manuel book, The Last Novel, is being adapted into a new stage play.
Manuel eventually met Watt in person the following December in the cocktail bar of Glasgow's city centre restaurant Whitehall's in Renfield Street before they spent hours together around the city, including the Gorbals area, where the Citz is based.
Mina's book mixes scenes from the time they are said to have spent together with the trial at the High Court in Glasgow in May 1958.
Peter Manuel was convicted of seven murders in May 1958.
Manuel withdrew a confession to the police, conducted his own defence and even called Watt as one of his witnesses.
However he was eventually convicted of carrying out seven murders in Glasgow and Lanarkshire between 1956 and 1958. Manuel was the second last prisoner at Barlinnie to be executed, on July 11, 1958.
The Citizens Theatre, which will officially reopen in September, will premiere The Last Drop in June 2026. (Image: Supplied)
McLean told The Herald: 'When you look at photographs of Peter Manuel, he was quite a handsome young man. There was a whole mystique about him at the time.
"It was absolutely fascinating that he decided to become his own defence. He turned into a different Peter Manuel. He is a gift for an actor to play.
"The fascination for me in doing this play is that my mother was a teenager in Glasgow when Peter Manuel was on the loose. He absolutely terrorised ordinary people.
"Denise has given me carte blanche to adapt her book. It has been trimmed down to make it as suspenseful as possible for the stage."
The Citz, which has been closed since 2018 for the biggest refurbishment in its history, has already announced that it will officially reopen in September with the premiere of a new stage show inspired by the bonds of friendship which were forged between people in America and Lockerbie since the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988.
Other new shows in its 2026 line-up includes a new version of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, which will feature Citz favourite George Costigan and Matthew Kelly, who will be appearing at the venue for the first time, and the Pulitzer Prize winning play Sweat, which is set in Pennsylvania at the start of the 21st century.
Theatre-makers Adura Onashile and Stewart Laing will be collaborating on a new version of the George Bernard Shaw classic Saint Joan, about Joan of Arc, which will be reimagined and set in the 2020s as the world faces growing political unrest and conflict.
Advance publicity on The Last Drop, which will run from June 5-20, describes the play as 'a sleek and stylish descent into the heart of a city – and the haunted minds of the men who shape it.'
It adds: 'The Long Drop is an electrifying new play – equal parts psychological thriller and pitch-black comedy – based on the real case of notorious killer Peter Manuel. Gritty and gripping, it plunges us into a world of gangsters, gossip, and half-truths told over one too many drinks, leading to one of the most infamous criminal trials in Scottish history.'
The theatre's artistic director Dominic Hill, who will direct the adaption of The Long Drop, said: 'I read Denise Mina's The Long Drop during lockdown and was completely gripped by it.
"Denise is one of Scotland's finest crime writers – her work is sharp, atmospheric and utterly compelling. I knew straight away it had the potential to be a brilliant piece of theatre.
'I asked the brilliant playwright Linda McLean to adapt it, and she's done so with real flair.
'Set in the gritty underworld of 1950s Glasgow, this is a dark, funny and gripping drama – the kind of bold, character-driven storytelling that feels right at home on the Citz stage.'
Mina said: 'As a Glaswegian, the Citz holds a special place in my heart. I'm honoured that The Long Drop is being staged here, in the Gorbals, where so many of the events happened."