Crime writer Denise Mina has been thinking about Peter Manuel for a long time.
«"He would break into houses, kill entire families, and then wander off doing nothing," she says.
«"This predates the modern concept of a serial killer, who is a maniac acting alone and committing the same crimes over and over again.".
«"But he didn't commit the same crime. He did many different things. He was a psychopath.".
Mina first wrote about it in 2013 for A Play, A Pie and A Pint at Glasgow's Oran Mor.
In the film Driving Manuel, the role of the killer, who roams the pubs and clubs of Glasgow with businessman William Watt, was played by the late Andy Gray.
After this, several spectators approached Mina and said that there was more to the story, especially concerning William Watt.
In September 1956, Watt's wife, daughter and sister-in-law were murdered in their beds while he was fishing.
He was charged with murder and sentenced to three months in prison.
After his release, Watt decided to investigate the murders himself, offering payment for information, and Manuel readily agreed.
Denise Mina made her foray into crime reporting with The Long Fall [BBC].
Mina's 2017 novel, The Long Fall, describes the men's bizarre pub crawl after meeting, as well as Manuel's subsequent trial, conviction, and execution.
It was her first experience in the genre of documentary crime investigation, for which she received the William McIlvanney Award.
This production is currently on stage as the final performance of the Citizens Theatre's updated programme.
The film was written by Linda McLean, stars Brian Vernel as Peter Manuel, and was directed by Dominic Hill.
Hill says: "The book captures the atmosphere of a particular period in Glasgow incredibly accurately.".
«"You can smell the coal on the walls and see the fog, but it's also a time of change, just before places like the Gorbals were torn down and rebuilt.".
The Citizens Theatre is one of the few remaining buildings to have reopened and been reborn after a seven-year, multi-million pound refurbishment.
Inside, on stage, they have carefully recreated the shop windows and pub interiors that once surrounded their theatre from the outside.
Manuel was convicted of seven murders and is believed to have committed two more [Getty Images].
Almost 70 years after his execution, Peter Manuel remains one of Scotland's most horrific serial killers.
He is known to have killed nine people between January 1956 and January 1958, although he was only convicted of seven murders.
The popular press nicknamed him "The Beast of Birkenshaw" after the town in Lanarkshire where he lived at the time of his crimes.
Manuel was born in New York City in 1927 to Scottish parents. Five years later, they returned to the UK, living alternately in Coventry and Motherwell.
His life of crime began at the age of seven. Initially, he engaged in theft, but by his teens, his crimes became increasingly sexual and violent, including house break-ins.
He spent some time in a juvenile detention center and then, at the age of just 15, was jailed for attacking a sleeping woman with a hammer.
The Watt family murders occurred at the height of his crime spree, almost all of which were committed in towns and villages south-east of Glasgow.
On the night of September 17, 1956, he shot dead 45-year-old Marion Hunter Watt, her 16-year-old daughter Vivienne Isabella and her 42-year-old sister Margaret Hunter Brown at the Watt home in Burnside.
He used an illegally acquired revolver, which he then threw into the River Clyde in Glasgow.
Manuel killed three members of the Watt family at their home on the outskirts of Glasgow [Getty Images]
William Watt was taken into custody as the prime suspect in these crimes, but was released in December of the following year.
Manuel spent most of the next year in prison for another crime, but it was during this period that he contacted Watt and his lawyer.
After his release in November 1957, Manuel began his final killing spree. Five victims in five weeks, culminating in the murder of Peter and Doris Smart and their 11-year-old son, Michael, in their Uddingston home on New Year's Eve.
Police repeatedly failed to catch Manuel for his crimes, but this time the evidence pointed to him. He was arrested and brought to trial in May 1958.
Just two weeks later - during which time he fired his lawyers and defended himself while crowds gathered outside the Glasgow court - he was found guilty of seven murders and sentenced to death.
Manuel was hanged at HMP Barlinnie in the city on 11 July 1958.
He was one of the last people executed in Scotland before the death penalty was abolished in Britain in 1965.
William Watt's possible role in the murder of his family is a central theme of the novel "The Long Fall" [Getty Images]. The trial at the High Court in Glasgow attracted a large crowd [Getty Images]
Brian Vernel, who plays Manuel, last performed at the Citizens Theatre in 2013.
«"I've played some pretty dark characters," he says.
«"This is the most interesting work I've worked on in a long time.".
«"Obviously it's a play with a very dark theme, but it's also about real people and it's set locally, so it feels like it's written in memory of the city as you know it.".
Keith Fleming, who plays Watt, said he knew little about Manuel or his crimes before he was cast in the series, but everyone he told was interested.
He says: "My friend's grandmother is 94 and grew up in the Gorbals, so she recognised the name straight away and remembered all those warnings about walking home in groups when his atrocities were at their height.".
Keith Fleming as William Watt (left) and Brian Vernel as Peter Manuel in The Long Fall [Eoin Carey/Citizens Theatre]
If the murders themselves were shocking, the trial was a sensation.
TV channels and newspapers descended on the city. The prison service had to send a sting van to prevent Manuel from being attacked by angry crowds upon his arrival.
Manuel was one of the first defendants in a Scottish court to represent himself.
He failed to convince the jury, who found him guilty on seven counts of murder.
Seventy years later, Deniz Mina believes that many details remain to be uncovered in the investigation of these crimes.
«"After the 'Fall from a Great Height' tragedy, two sons of one of the victims came to me.".
«"They claimed to be certain that William Watt was not an innocent man who had accidentally met his family's killer, and that he had hired someone to kill his wife.".
«"They said they'd been trying to tell people the truth for decades, but no one wanted to listen because once the case was over, everyone assumed that was the end of it.".
«"And they told me amazing details, like that he'd gone fly-fishing in the Crinan Canal and he'd taken his guard dog with him - a three-year-old golden Labrador - which is the last thing you want when you're fly-fishing.".
«"I was upset that I hadn't taken that detail into account.".
«"But mostly now people say, 'I remember this happening when I was a kid.'".
«And the mothers threatened them: „If you don’t go to bed now, Peter Manuel will come and take you away.“».
«"It's a very Glasgow style of parenting.".
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The Citizens Theatre has received an additional £3.5 million in funding for its refurbishment.
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Glasgow's Citizens Theatre has reopened after a seven-year hiatus.
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Mina won the award for best crime book of the year.