A Friend of the Family: True Evil

"Sam, could you do me a favor?" A seemingly simple request sparks the story that has now become part of America’s true crime hall of fame - the journey of a young lawyer, fresh from the Public Defender’s Office, whose first client in private practice turns out to be the most evil serial killer in our nation's history.

The story behind the murder of 16-year-old Becky Watts, who was killed by her stepbrother Nathan Matthews and his 21-year-old partner Shauna Hoare in Bristol in February 2015. This programme documents the huge police manhunt that unfolded in the wake of her disappearance, and the police investigation which eventually brought her murderous stepbrother to justice.

Using interviews with expert witnesses, detectives and members of law enforcement, reveals the true story of Wayne Couzens, asks how he was able to hide from scrutiny for so long, and considers the larger problem of misogyny in the police force.

The case of Ann Heron, a British woman who was murdered on 3 August 1990 at her home in Darlington, County Durham, by an unidentified killer.

An exploration of the space where femininity and criminality collide. The film collages archival footage clips culled from silent films, original footage and computer-generated imagery with a series of narratives drawn from true crime confessions, early criminological texts, and the filmmaker's own reflections. The result is a cool and piercing meditation on the way the categories of "woman" and "criminal" have been constructed.

An Oscar nominated documentary about a middle-class American family who is torn apart when the father Arnold and son Jesse are accused of sexually abusing numerous children. Director Jarecki interviews people from different sides of this tragic story and raises the question of whether they were rightfully tried when they claim they were innocent and there was never any evidence against them.

This documentary about serial killers and FBI Behavioral Sciences profilers features interviews with Ed Kemper and Ted Bundy as well as crime victims and law enforcement officials. The film includes some dramatic recreations.

Jeffrey Ferguson has been on death row for 26 years. Now he has just one hour left before he is put to death. Would you forgive the man who killed your daughter?

25 year old estate agent Suzy Lamplugh was reported missing at 18:45 on 28th July 1986. Investigations have so far not identified any evidence and although leads have been followed, some as recently as 2019, her disappearance remains a mystery. She is presumed murdered and was declared legally dead in 1994. No body has ever been found. The last clue to Lamplugh's whereabouts was an appointment to show a house in Shorrolds Road to someone she referred to as "Mr Kipper".

An experimental true crime documentary based on the unsolved murder of Raonaid Murray, a 17-year-old Irish girl, which achieved nationwide attention during the 2000s.

Anonymous and exploitative, a network of online chat rooms ran rampant with sex crimes. The hunt to take down its operators required guts and tenacity.

Summaries "The John Wayne Gacy Murders: Life and Death in Chicago", Focuses on serial killer John Wayne Gacy's time in Chicago and includes information about Gacy's childhood, his career of crime in Waterloo, Iowa, and Gacy's becoming a celebrity in prison. Containing interviews with Chicago attorneys, news reporters, law enforcement officers, and history experts, the film illustrates what the atmosphere was like in Chicago when Gacy was murdering and ultimately apprehended. Gacy's time in prison as a celebrity serial killer is also explored in this groundbreaking film by Chicago native filmmaker John Borowski. —John Borowski

The definitive telling of the crimes of Joanne Dennehy, told by those closest to the case. Dennehy murdered three men, stabbed two more and is now serving life without parole.

Shortly before dawn on August 21, 1992, six heavily armed U.S. marshals made their way up to the isolated mountaintop home of Randy and Vicki Weaver and their children on Ruby Ridge in Northern Idaho. Charged with selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns to an undercover agent, Weaver had failed to appear in court and law enforcement was tasked with bringing him in. For months, the Weavers had been holed up on their property with a cache of firearms, including automatic weapons. When the federal agents surveilling the property crossed paths with members of the family, a firefight broke out. The standoff that mesmerized the nation would leave Weaver injured, his wife and son dead, and some convinced that the federal government was out of control. Drawing upon eyewitness accounts, including interviews with Weaver’s daughter, Sara, and federal agents involved in the confrontation, Ruby Ridge is a riveting account of the event that helped give rise to the modern American militia movement.

After killing one person and wounding two others in a two-day shooting spree in July 2010, 37-year-old Raoul Moat went on the run. This is the story of the investigation—and how Moat escaped police officers’ clutches for a week.

Black vomit? Aliens? When British conspiracy theorist Max Spiers died suddenly in Poland in July 2016 the case was immediately shrouded in mystery. Just before his death he asked his mum to investigate should anything happen to him. So little is known about how or why he died that the gaps have quickly been filled by fantastical theories. India Rakusen heads to Poland to try to find the answers his family are desperately waiting for.

Steve McNair was an NFL legend whose life was seemingly cut short by a crime of passion. Is there more to this chilling tragedy than meets the eye?

Spain, November 5, 2021. After an emergency landing, several people traveling from Casablanca (Morocco) to Istanbul (Turkey) escape from Palma de Mallorca airport.

Interviews with the detectives involved in investigating the global star, Michael Jackson’s, death. They reveal fascinating insights into the events surrounding the day he died.

Digging through the vast collection of his father's home videos, a young man reconstructs the unthinkable story of his boyhood and exposes vile abuse passed through generations.