The parents of Madeleine McCann have been left distressed by the release of a Netflix documentary about her disappearance, it has emerged as their lawyers trawled the eight-hour series for slurs.

Almost 12 years since the toddler vanished without a trace from a holiday apartment on the Algarve, eight hour-long episodes about the mystery were unveiled on the streaming site.

The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann pores over the high-profile search for the missing three-year-old in intricate detail, but notably lacks input from her family or their wider circle.

Her parents’ long-time spokesman suggested Netflix had appeared more interested in “infotainment” to bolster their popular true-crime collection than helping the search effort.

Documentary series such as Making a Murderer have been big money-spinners for the streaming giant and led to an influx of gritty factual programmes on the site to capitalise on demand.

Clarence Mitchell said Kate and Gerry McCann were offered a chance to watch the series in advance as a “courtesy”, but indicated they were not likely to do so soon.

Friends and lawyers are expected to carefully scour any allegations made about the couple in the series.

Mr Mitchell told The Telegraph: “I’m not aware of any breakthrough evidence or breakthrough interview that is going to cause a significant shift in the Met Police investigation and this was one of our principle concerns.