‘Murderer Behind the Mask' review: A gripping account of what it took to bring depraved psychopath Graham Dwyer to justice

Prime Video documentary 'Murderer Behind the Mask' pays tribute to victim Elaine O'Hara as detectives reveal how they got their man
Pat Stacey
True crime documentaries always walk a tightrope between sensitivity and tastelessness. Far too many of them fall off the wrong side.
Murderer Behind the Mask (Prime Video, streaming from Sunday, June 22), about the murder of Elaine O'Hara by architect Graham Dwyer in 2012, is a fine example of one that doesn't. Director Grant Armour eschews the more lurid techniques of the genre.

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Irish Independent

2 days ago

• Irish Independent

‘Murderer Behind the Mask' review: A gripping account of what it took to bring depraved psychopath Graham Dwyer to justice

Prime Video documentary 'Murderer Behind the Mask' pays tribute to victim Elaine O'Hara as detectives reveal how they got their man Pat Stacey True crime documentaries always walk a tightrope between sensitivity and tastelessness. Far too many of them fall off the wrong side. Murderer Behind the Mask (Prime Video, streaming from Sunday, June 22), about the murder of Elaine O'Hara by architect Graham Dwyer in 2012, is a fine example of one that doesn't. Director Grant Armour eschews the more lurid techniques of the genre.

Irish Daily Mirror

5 days ago

• Irish Daily Mirror

'Harrowing' documentary on killer Graham Dwyer airs this week

True crime fans are being urged to watch an upcoming documentary on one of the most "harrowing" cases. Murderer Behind the Mask is set to drop on Prime Video on June 21. It will feature the murder of Elaine O'Hara who went missing in the Dublin Mountains back in 2012. Despite initially believing she had taken her own life, a chance discovery a year later led to a chilling murder investigation. Following police officers in Ireland, the force soon found a "very surprising suspect". A synopsis reads: "When Elaine O'Hara goes missing in the Dublin Mountains in 2012, police assume she has taken her own life. But over a year later, a chance discovery of items found in a lake by a group of fishermen, lead to a body of a young women, sparking an incredible murder investigation, and leading to a very surprising suspect. "Graham Dwyer, a successful architect and a happily married father of two, has been leading a double life of twisted kinks and violent fetishes and now the police suspect him of murder." In preview clips, the crime was branded by detectives as the "most grotesque" and "harrowing cases our society has ever witnessed". The series will feature two episodes, each around 45 minutes long. It takes viewers on the journey of the murder investigation, from the moment police were called right through to where Graham Dwyer is now. Elaine was a 36-year-old childcare worker who was said to have been "vulnerable" when she initially went missing in 2012. She was said to have been struggling with her mental health at the time and her disappearance was initially treated as a suicide. But it wasn't until 2013 when items were found by a fisherman in a reservoir, which had set off "alarm bells" for police. In the harrowing documentary, one detective said it had "screamed something sinister had happened." In what has been said to be one of Ireland's most notorious murder cases, murderer Graham Dwyer had been a married family man and a successful businessman. The 53-year-old was charged with Elaine's murder in October 2013, over a month after her remains were found at Killakee wood. He was found guilty of Elaine's murder in 2015, and despite appeals, he remains in prison where it is expected he will have to serve the remainder of his life sentence. The shocking and chilling case is being re-visited over a decade on. Streaming on Prime Video, it will shed a light on how the case unfolded following Elaine's brutal murder and Graham's time in court. Murderer Behind the Mask can be streamed on Prime Video on June 21.

Irish Independent

09-06-2025

• Irish Independent

‘Hell for Leather' review: This stylish history of Gaelic football is marred by the usual pretentious, self-mythologising GAA nonsense

Hell for Leather: The Story of Gaelic Football is a new a five-part history of the sport showing on RTÉ1 Pat Stacey Today at 17:35 My late, great friend and fellow Independent/Herald scribbler George Byrne mischievously coined the terms 'bogball and stick fighting' to describe Gaelic football and hurling. I can easily guess what George would have thought of Hell for Leather: The Story of Gaelic Football (RTÉ One, Monday, June 9 and RTÉ Player), a five-part history of the sport from Crossing the Line Productions, which did a similarly epic job on hurling in the 2018 series The Game.