The US criminal profiler featured on Channel 7's Madeleine McCann documentary is threatening legal action to sue journalist Rahni Sadler and Seven West Media.

Crime expert Pat Brown said she was "absolutely appalled" at how the Sunday Night show was edited to produce a one-sided pro-McCann view, and claimed she had been set up to be humiliated by Sadler.

A former Scotland Yard detective who also featured in the documentary told Nine.com.au his analysis of Maddie's disappearance had been heavily distorted and that he would never work with Seven again.

The episode promised "major new developments", but ultimately failed to deliver on the much-hyped bombshell lead that would break the almost decade-long cold case open.

Washington DC-based Brown told Nine.com.au that Sadler interviewed her exhaustively for an hour but only used fractional snippets that could ultimately make her a target for legal action from the McCanns.
 

"They edited it poorly. They edited it exactly the way they wanted to make me look - which was an idiot," Brown said.

Brown said Sadler "interrogated" her at length about the physical, circumstantial, and behavioral evidence that supported her theories that Kate and Gerry should still be considered suspects in what happened to Madeleine.

But Brown said only one part of the interview about theories of Kate and Gerry disposing of their daughter's body made it to the screen - and that did not include any of her reasoned analysis.

"They wanted the viewers to believe I said the McCanns were guilty of a crime. Then they did not use any of the important evidence I put forward to support a theory that the McCanns may well be involved. 

"They edited a number of other statements to make me look ridiculous." 

One such moment in the documentary came when Sadler asked Brown how it was possible the McCanns' friends, otherwise known as the Tapas 7, could all be involved in a cover-up.

Brown told Nine.com.au her reply had been chopped, and it removed the crucial part where she said it was possible that one or two friends had helped create an alibi for the McCanns. 

Jane Tanner, a friend who was holidaying in Praia da Luz with the McCanns, was critical in driving the theory Madeleine was abducted after allegedly seeing a man carrying a child near apartment 5A. 

But Portuguese police have always harboured doubts over the validity of Tanner's statements, which changed several times as the investigation got underway. 

"Everything that I was trying to explain was eliminated in the final production," Brown said.

The documentary suggested Brown's book had been dropped by retailing giant Amazon because of its speculative content which theorised Kate and Gerry may have hidden Maddie's body after an accidental death in the holiday apartment.

The reality, according to documents seen by Nine.com.au, was that Amazon was threatened by Carter-Ruck, the notorious London libel firm long employed by the McCanns to shut down negative headlines.

Brown said she had made numerous appearances on major US TV networks over a 15-year career and had never wanted to sue – until now.

US-based attorney Brian Close, who is representing Brown, said he has identified defamation, intentional misrepresentation and false light as grounds for legal action against Sadler and Seven West Media.

Former London Met homicide detective Colin Sutton was also angered at the way his commentary had been manipulated in the edit suite.

He told Nine.com.au the misrepresentations were "unfair, unethical and represents the sort of journalism with which I do not wish to be associated."

Nine.com.au has contacted Seven West Media for a statement but have not had comment at the time of publishing.