ITV star Holly Willoughby was the target of a kidnap and murder plot in 2024.
Newly rebranded 5 aired the documentary special The Plot To Kill Holly Willoughby on Thursday May 1 and viewers all shared the same opinion. Taking to X they admitted they were less than impressed with the programme, which anaylsed Gavin Plumb’s horrific plan to kidnap and kill the star. “It seems excessive for a weird degenerate that was too house bound to actually commit a crime against anyone,” one commented. “#Channel5 The Plot to kidnap, rape and kill Holly Willoughby, the story didn’t really grip the nation,” another penned. A third chimed in: “Poor Holly how scary is that#HollyWilloughby.”
In July last year, 37-year-old security guard Plumb was convicted of soliciting the kidnap, rape and murder of Holly, who left her role on This Morning when the plot was uncovered, didn’t feature in the documentary other than in archive footage, with a note in the credits saying she declined an offer to appear.
Gavin Plumb was sentenced to life in prison and ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years (Image: Channel 5)
The hour long special investigated the plot from the moment the news broke Holly was missing from This Morning after police unearthed the plot and Plumb’s now infamous trial and the shocking details which emerged at it.
Unbeknown to Holly, 44, Plumb had spent nearly a decade developing a twisted fixation on her.
He amassed tens of thousands of images, tracked her movements, researched her home and security arrangements and had recruited other like-minded men to help turn his sick sexual fantasies into reality.
Their plan was to invade the star’s London home – subdue her husband with chloroform and use the couple’s young children as leverage.
They intended to kidnap Holly, drive her to a remote location where she would be viciously sexually assaulted and ultimately, murdered.
When Holly learned of the plan, just hours before she was due to go on air, her life was changed forever. With little choice but to put her glittering career on hold, she withdrew from public life whilst the police built their case against Plumb.
The film used Plumb’s own words to illustrate his horrific plan as messages between him and other members of his sick online clique were broadcast.
It also featured experts in criminal psychology and stalking behavior who charted his pathological obsession, enabled by the dark underbelly of the internet and fuelled by his hatred of women.