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A wild new theory has emerged about the disappearance of Madeleine McCann following the controversial Netflix documentary about her kidnapping.

Viewers picked up on a line in the show the toddler was "sleepy" in the hours before she was picked up by her parents from a daycare centre at the Portuguese resort of Praia da Luz in 2007.

People are now suggesting the McCann family were spied on and three-year-old Maddie was drugged by the kidnapper in the hours before she was snatched from her bed.

Maddie's parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, were eating out with friends at a tapas restaurant close to the hotel and regularly checked up on their children before realising their daughter was gone.

In the show it's said Maddie was sleepy on the day she was kidnapped and the fact her twin siblings, Sean and Amelie, failed to wake up when she vanished is adding fuel to the theory online.

(Image: PA)

(Image: PA)

Social media users believe the toddler was drugged after being watched by the kidnapper at the resort's Kids Club and that her brother and sister were also spiked.

Nicola Begg said on Twitter in response to the show: "So what if [the kidnapper] had been watching Maddie, watched that the McCanns were leaving their apartment for dinner and checking every half an hour, then on the day she disappeared gave the three kids something to make them so tired they wouldn’t wake?

"Then went in after Gerry first checked on the kids, took Maddie easily as the kids had been drugged, sold her on etc? Just one theory."

Fellow viewers of the eight part series, which retraces the steps of the moments leading to Maddie's disappearance and the subsequent investigation, agree it is a plausible explanation.

(Image: REUTERS)

Maddie O'Leary said: "My opinion having watched episode 7/8 is that the McCann children were all sedated by someone (that’s why they were tired and didn’t wake when people were coming in and out the flat) then someone abducted Maddie somehow and sold her through the dark web."

Laura Spencer wrote: "One theory - Kate's friends said Maddie was really tired coming back from the kids club.

"Possibly [someone] had his eye on her, drugged her earlier in the day to make sure she wouldn't kick up a fuss when she was snatched later in the evening."

The documentary series features more than 40 experts and people involved in the investigation.

But Kate and Gerry McCann refused to take part in the show.

The programme covers various versions of what may have happened 12 years ago from bungling cops pinning blame to Maddie's parents and claims she is still alive.

Other parts of the show describe the dark trafficking side of Portugal with criminals able to transport stolen children easily to other countries.