In 2021, BBC One showed a compelling drama about real-life serial killer, conman and gem dealer Charles Sobhraj. Starring Tahar Rahim as Sobhraj, with Jenna Coleman as his girlfriend, it chillingly recounted how ‘The Serpent’ – as the series was called – hung out on the hippie trail in 1970s’…
Category: Television
The Long Shadow – ITV’s moving drama about the Peter Sutcliffe case
Katherine Kelly as Emily Jackson (C) ITV Plc ITV’s searing new drama The Long Shadow looks at how one man’s depraved murder campaign in late 1970s’ Britain devastated so many lives. The fallout from those crimes are the focus here. And they have continued long after Peter Sutcliffe was arrested in January…
The Real Ted Hastings – corruption scandals inspiring Line of Duty
Millions of us were gripped by the BBC’s Line of Duty. As the sixth series came to a somewhat controversial climax with the revelation that detective Ian Buckells was the embedded criminal known as “H”, author Stephen King was tweeting about it, the late Queen was rumoured to be a…
Murder by the Sea just published
The book, written by myself and David Howard, has just been published. It’s a companion to the CBS Reality television series, recounting 10 notorious cases with fresh material. Here’s the promo video for the book, with details of the blog tour.
Dark Son
youtu.be/r6BnF5FEmvQ
Murder by the Sea: The Mochries
I learned a chilling term while researching my contribution to tonight’s episode of Murder by the Sea – the ‘Family Annihilator’. It’s hard not be saddened, perplexed, annoyed that a man can rationalise the act of killing his whole family. One newspaper summed what many thought back in 2000 –…
Murder by the Sea: Miles Giffard
Murder by the Sea: Danny Dyke
Danny Dyke was leading a double life. To mates and colleagues in the Swansea area he was an osteopath. A former rugby player for Rosslyn Park and Eastbourne before knee injuries cut his playing prospects short, he’d also had a spell as a physio for Neath and Aberavon rugby clubs….
Dark Land: Hunting the Killers
Coming to BBC iPlayer this evening is this new four-part series. It uses contemporary experts to reinvestigate notorious cold cases to unearth possible clues to the killers’ identities. I am a contributor to one of the films, which explores the murder of showgirl Mamie Shotton, who went missing in 1920….
The Shipman Files: A Very British Crime Story
I wrote a feature for the Mirror‘s We Love TV mag this week and wanted to flag up this series. It’s a three-part look at the appalling Harold Shipman case made by filmmaker Chris Wilson for BBC Two. It is 20 years since this family doctor was exposed as probably…