The Moorside is a 2017 two-part British television drama. Written by Neil McKay and directed by Paul Whittington, it stars Sheridan Smith, Gemma Whelan, Sian Brooke and Siobhan Finneran and was broadcast on BBC One in two one-hour episodes in February 2017. The drama is based on the 2008 disappearance of 9-year-old Shannon Matthews and the successful search for her by police and volunteers in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, along with the revelation of mother Karen's involvement in Shannon's kidnapping.The title is in reference to the Moorside housing estate in Dewsbury, where the Matthews family lived.