Crimes that shook Britain

The series that Fiona Graham, FCET Film Technology senior lecturer, developed and pitched for Sky started broadcasting on Monday 3rd November with a sixty minute program on serial killer Dr Harold Shipman which had the highest ratings on the channel that day. The second documentary was the shocking case of the abduction of Birmingham estate agent Stephanie Slater and included a memorable appearance by film lecturer Anne Ramsden.  Documentary three covered the murders of Lin and Megan Russell and was watched by 93,000 people.  The fourth documentary was the case of Beverly Alitt the nurse from Grantham who killed her patients. Programme five covered the Hungerford shootings of the 1980's when lone gunman Michael Ryan went on a 24 hour killing spree in the small town of Hungerford - one of Britain's most notorious crimes that changed legal history and saw the introduction of major new gun laws.  The last programme in the series was about 'Sarah Payne'.

The six program series was developed by Fiona Graham and commissioned by Sky's History Channel and Crime & Investigation Network last year.  Making the series provided work experience on production for both Staffordshire and Salford University students and involved a number of academics from the Film Production Technology Awards.   Next year there will be two more documentaries for Sky by the same team on the Great Train Robbery and Sharon Matthews.

There was a well attended talk in the new Television Studio at Staffordshire University's Beaconside campus on how the program was developed, pitched and produced with Sky Channel commissioners  on 11th November.  The shows are repeated on Sky's History Channel.