Pictured: The ‘Old Etonian’ and former female impersonator in Australia who is accused in BBC show of being aristocrat Lord Lucan – who bludgeoned family’s nanny to death before vanishing

A former female impersonator who converted to Buddhism has denied claims he misses British counterpart Lord Lucan in a new BBC documentary.

Cameras followed Neil Berriman – the son of murdered Lucan nanny Sandra Rivett – as he tracked down the man he believed to be the missing aristocrat, now living in Australia.

Mr Berriman accused ‘Old Etonian’ Christopher Bell, 87, of being Lucan and killing his mother on November 7, 1974, before going on the run for decades.

In a bizarre confrontation over a WhatsApp video call, Mr Bell initially appears to confirm his suspicions, but later tells the BBC: ‘I don’t know who the hell Lord Lucan is.’ He adds, “I can assure you that I am not, never have been, and never will be that man.”

The brutal murder of Mrs Rivett at the Lucan family home in Belgravia, London, shocked Britain and sparked a five-decade manhunt for the main suspect, the 7th Earl of Lucan.

Lord Lucan with his fiancée Veronica Duncan in 1963. The brutal murder of Mrs Rivett at the Lucan family home in Belgravia, London, shocked Britain and sparked a five-decade manhunt for the main suspect, the 7th Earl of Lucan.

Neil Berriman, son of Sandra Rivett, the murdered nanny who worked for Lord Lucan

Sandra Rivett was brutally murdered in the darkened basement kitchen of Lord Lucan’s family home Belgravia

Pictured: Police dog handlers search for Lord Lucan on the hills above Newhaven Harbor after the aristocrat’s disappearance

Mr Berriman, who gave Ms Rivett up for adoption as a baby, has spent years trying to track down the missing peer, and the new BBC Two documentary shows the dramatic moment he confronts Mr Bell.

During the conversation, Mr Berriman told Mr Bell: “I know you are Lord Lucan,” but added: “I don’t want to do anything about it.”

Mr. Bell replies, “There’s not much you can really do about it, it’s all in the hands of the divine.”

Mr Berriman, a builder from Hampshire, asks about ‘the woman you killed’, and Mr Bell replies: ‘She came from a very horrible background. She was in a lot of pain and stress.’

During the often confused conversation, Mr Bell continues: ‘I don’t remember killing anyone, or ending anyone’s life… As far as I know, I’ve never taken anyone’s life.’

Mr Bell claims to be descended from the English aristocracy, to have been educated at Eton and to have been friends with Princess Margaret. But he also says he left Britain in 1966, eight years before Lucan’s murder, and worked as a “female impersonator” in Canada before traveling to India and meeting the Buddhist spiritual leader the Dalai Lama .

In the documentary, Bell says he was conceived “during a magical ritual at Stonehenge,” and that his biological father was a puppeteer who performed at Buckingham Palace for Princess Elizabeth (the late Queen) and her sister Princess Margaret.

His birth certificate names him as Derek Crowther, born in Islington, north London, in 1936, the son of a railway wagon cleaner.

At one point, Mr Berriman, 57, is convinced his suspicions have been confirmed by artificial intelligence facial recognition technology, which compares Mr Bell’s features with those of Lord Lucan.

It’s been almost fifty years since British aristocrat Lord Lucan (pictured), 39, disappeared without a trace

He disappeared after nanny Sandra Rivett (photo) was beaten to death in the family home

The Plumbers Arms, where Lady Lucan ran after finding Sandra dead in her home

Lord Lucan’s wife Veronica Mary Duncan (pictured here with him)

Lady Lucan (pictured) later died at the age of 80

But analysis by an Interior Ministry-approved team of recognition experts ruled him out in 2022. The documentary also showed investigative journalist Glen Campbell telling Mr Berriman he believes they were wrong, and Mr Bell vehemently denying he is the missing colleague.

The three-part documentary follows Mr Berriman as he reveals how he found out he was adopted and that Ms Rivett was his birth mother.

Her battered body was discovered in a mail bag in the blood-stained basement of the Lucan home after his wife Lady Veronica Lucan ran into a nearby pub and shouted that their nanny had been murdered.

Lucan’s car was found abandoned, soaked in blood, in Newhaven, East Sussex.

An inquest jury later declared him the murderer, but he was never found.

– The first episode of Lucan airs tonight at 9pm on BBC Two and then on BBC iPlayer.