The Playboy Bunny Murder: ITV1 Marcel Theroux true crime series investigates Eve Stratford’s unsolved murder

New ITV documentary true crime series The Playboy Bunny Murder follows the unsolved killings of two young women and a teenage girl in the 1970s, and is presented by journalist Marcel Theroux, the brother of Louis Theroux.

Marcel investigates the cold case murders that took place in London in the 1970s, revealing a dark underbelly to the capital’s outwardly glamorous nightlife. Theroux, who had previously fronted documentaries for Unreported World on Channel 4, grew up in London at the time that these grisly murders were committed.

The two-part series will revisit the brutal killing of Eve Stratford, a Playboy Bunny with dreams of becoming a famous model - her life was taken in 1975 when she was just 21 years old. Later that year, Lynne Weedon, a 16 year old schoolgirl was killed, and both were later proven to be victims of the same perpetrator.

In 1979, Lynda Farrow, a pregnant mother to two children was murdered in her Woodford home. Her slaying is also explored in the documentary.   

Theroux stumbled on the cold cases when researching 1970s London for a novel he was writing - he then spent four years attempting to unravel the bloody crimes, speaking to key figures involved in each case, as well as the relatives of the three victims as he gains fresh insight into the chilling crimes.

Who was Eve Stratford?

Eve Stratford was a hostess and Playboy Bunny working at London’s Playboy Club, and aspired to become a successful model. She was born in West Germany and moved to the UK with her family as a young girl.

Through her work she socialised with well-known entertainers including comedians Sid James and Eric Morecambe. Prior to her death she had appeared on the front cover of the adult magazine Mayfair, and it is believed that this had drawn the attention of her twisted killer.

In March 1975 she was found dead at her flat in Leyton by her partner - her throat had been cut up to a dozen times and it is likely that she had been sexually assaulted prior to her murder. There were no signs of forced entry to her flat or of a struggle inside, and her murderer was never found.

Who was Lynne Weedon?

Six months after Stratford's murder, 16 year old schoolgirl Lynne Weedon was killed on the other side of London in Hounslow. She had been hit on the head with a blunt object and raped. 

Weedon had gone out to celebrate her O-level results with her friends before taking a shortcut home in the evening through a dark alley where she was attacked and knocked unconscious. She was found unconscious but alive the following morning by a school caretaker, but died in hospital a week later.

Witnesses reported sightings of a white male near the murder scene and it is believed that this was the person responsible for the killing - though he was never found. In 2007, DNA evidence linked the killings of Stratford and Weedon, but was unable to identify their killer.

Who was Lynda Farrow? 

Lynda Farrow was a 29-year-old mother to two girls, who was pregnant with her third child at the time of her murder. She was stabbed to death at her Woodford home in 1979, her throat cut in an eerily similar way to how Stratford was killed. Chillingly, Farrow was discovered by her two young daughters who came home from school early due to snowy weather.

Farrow had worked at the International Sports Club in Mayfair at the time of her death, and lived around five miles from Stratford - this as well as the similar nature of her death, suggested to the police that the two cases may be linked.

Following the linking of the Stratford and Weedon cases by DNA evidence, detectives attempted to connect the Farrow cold case to the previous two murders, but the DNA analysis did not find a link. Despite the lack of DNA evidence, former Metropolitan Police detective Colin Sutton claimed in 2022 that all three killings were connected.

When is The Playboy Bunny Murder on TV? 

The Playboy Bunny Murder is a two-part series that premieres on ITV1 on Monday November 13 at 9pm. The second episode will air at the same time on Tuesday 14. Both episodes will be available to watch on ITVX shortly after they are first broadcast.