Depp V Heard: Channel 4 documentary upsets viewers with 'neutral' stance

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard supporters on social media have reignited their feuding over new Channel 4 documentary Depp V Heard.

The three part series directed by Bafta nominated Emma Cooper attempts to give an unbiased presentation of the court footage, alongside the social media reaction and commentary which saw users take sides.

Cooper told Glamour: "People on Twitter have assumed that I’m doing some kind of feminist pro-Amber polemic. Well, I’m not, am I?

Read more: Johnny Depp says he is a victim of cancel culture "injustice"

"I wanted to make a film or a series, about the social impact of it really, and about how we collectively were all drawn to it, and we all collectively felt a need to discuss it and have an opinion on it. And then, obviously, how that is reflected in social media."

The documentary has no narrator or commentary and claims to remain neutral.

But viewers found this frustrating.

One tweeted: "Is there a director/producer out there that has the balls to create a documentary with the actual facts? Where are the experts? Where is the commentary? #DeppvHeard #channel4"

Another said: "This documentary is a joke so far, trying to portray the conflict of the sides as equal, when it’s so very clear the misogynistic free for all that happened last year heavily benefited depp, and still does."

And another claimed: "It's already editing down the evidence to omit context and falsely portray Heard as the victim. Are they going to show her agency, causing and perpetrating the conflict? It's also presenting online commentary as related and relevant to Depp and his case."

The airing of the first episode saw #DeppVHeard trending on Twitter and users clashing again as they argued over who was in the right.

Others believed the documentary was unnecessary.

One tweeted: "The relationship has been over for 7 years. The #deppvheard trial is over. It's done. You can go watch it all on YT if you really care. The jury made their decision. Move on. Let them move on."

Another said: "Whatever happened their relationship was absolutely toxic #DeppVHeard"

The Guardian TV critic Rebecca Nicholson observed: "Depp v Heard tries to distance itself from the machine, occasionally hinting that there is something wrong, but in the end, it becomes only another cog, whirring away."

Depp won victory against Heard in their defamation trial in 2022 after a jury ruled in his favour. Depp sued Heard for libelling him in an article she wrote in 2018, alleging that she was a domestic abuse survivor.

Heard - who had counter-sued Depp in return - was ordered to pay him $10.35 million in damages.

Depp previously lost a libel trial against The Sun newspaper in 2020, over an article that labelled him a “wife beater”.

Read more: Johnny Depp is dating his lawyer Joelle Rich

The couple met on set of 2011 film The Rum Diary. They married in 2015 and Heard filed for divorce in 2016.

Watch: The Depp V Heard trial is also being made into a movie