Season 1 |
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Episode Guide
Episode 1: Review Score – 4/5
Episode 2: Review Score – 4/5
Episode 3: Review Score – 4/5
Episode 4: Review Score – 4/5
Arthur Knight, a man of Irish birth, lived a happily married life with his wife Miranda in Glasgow, Scotland. At least that’s what his neighbours may have thought about him.
But it turns out that Arthur Knight is not who he claimed to be. As is revealed in the Channel 4 documentary Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead, he is really a US citizen named Nicholas Rossi (born Nicholas Alahverdian) who the FBI wanted for sexually assaulting two women.
Not that Nicholas owned up to this fact, however. He faked his own death, giving him the leeway to start a new life in the UK under a new name. But unfortunately for him, he wasn’t able to sustain his ruse forever.
Nicholas Rossi is a convicted sex offender. He’s also a liar, a sociopath, and a con man. In the words of one of his former wives in the documentary, he is also a “monster.” You will certainly sympathise with her. During their less-than-happy marriage, he controlled her movements, raped her, and locked her in the bathroom for two days without giving her any food.
After seeing the documentary, you will have your own words for Rossi. None of these words will be pleasant ones. However, there are some people we meet in the documentary who did have nice things to say about him. Before he came to the UK under a new guise, he managed to convince politicians, a newspaper columnist, and a vicar into thinking he was a kind and charitable person. But the truth was far different.
As a young man, Rossi claimed that he was abused as a child while in the foster system, which is something he said to gain sympathy from people in political power. These claims were lies. He was actually the abuser of other young people placed in foster care. His abuse of others continued into adulthood, a pattern that was seemingly broken when he moved to the UK and married Miranda.
To see him in the documentary, bound to a wheelchair and breathing with the aid of an oxygen mask, you might be fooled into thinking he is a case of mistaken identity. Could Arthur Knight really be the man who systematically terrorized a series of women in the US? At the beginning of the docuseries, we are almost given the impression that the soft-spoken Irishman whom Miranda is in love with could be completely innocent. But then we are shown evidence that clearly proves he is the psychopath who caused unremitting suffering to others.
During his life, Rossi fooled many into believing he was somebody he wasn’t. We meet some of these people via interviews, including one of his former wives and a politician who tried to adopt him. But one person who could never be fooled is his father David who speaks to camera about Rossi’s childhood and how his son used to beat his mother.
On one such occasion while on a family trip to Disneyland, the tables were turned when the 12-year-old Rossi was beaten by David. Such violence can’t be condoned but at that point, David had been pushed to his limits. He regrets his actions now but insists the beating he gave his son had no part to play in the person Rossi became as an adult. It’s not difficult to believe him after hearing stories about Rossi’s wicked behaviour as a child.
Imposter: The Man Who Came Back From The Dead is a disturbing watch, increasingly so when more revelations about Rossi’s past are revealed. It’s fascinating in its telling of his story and how he managed to evade capture for so long. The docuseries is also thought-provoking – how well do we know the person we are married to? Miranda isn’t the first woman to have been duped by a man but the fact that her husband turned out to be a US fugitive is quite shocking!
For more on Nicholas Rossi, check out the docuseries on Channel 4’s streaming service and click on the link below.
Read More: Where is Nicholas Rossi now?
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Verdict - 8/10
8/10