The writer of a film about Ipswich murderer Steve Wright has said she did not want to follow the same path as journalists and documentary makers.

The movie, which premieres next week, is based on the stage musical London Road which deals with the serial killings of sex workers by Wright in 2006.

With a star cast including Olivia Coleman, Tom Hardy and Anita Dobson, the film does not deal with the murders themselves but than the reaction and response of the local community and how it came through a dark period in the town’s history.

A hit when shown at the National Theatre (NT), the play did attract criticism from some quarters because of its subject matter.

There was also a protest at the film being shown in Ipswich.

But Alecky Blythe, who wrote the script for both stage show and movie, said he was conscious not to put the focus of the crimes themselves.

“I never attempted to talk to him,” she said. “I did talk to a criminologist about serial killers and he told me that generally serial killers don’t have two heads, they’re not green, they’re just Mr Everybody and that’s how they get away with it.

“I didn’t want to go down the route of his story because lots of journalists and documentary makers were doing that.”

Ms Blythe also said she did not want to delve too deeply into the stories of the victims themselves.

“I didn’t want to go knocking on the doors of the victims’ parents,” she added. “It’s the last thing they’d want to share with me.

“But someone a little bit further removed might want to talk about these things with a stranger.

“Telling their stories just didn’t feel like the right sort of fit for me because I do know that within my work there is a degree of lightness, which means I can’t go too close to the centre of the tragedy.

“It would feel wrong. So I go as close as I can.”

The trailer for the show can be viewed above. London Road premieres on June 9 via NT Live at the Ipswich Film Theatre and is on general release in UK cinemas on June 12.

Visit londonroadfilm.co.uk for more information.