Description
British Serial Killers 4-DVD BOX SET
Four crime dramas about real-life serial killers.
Drama. Colour. Running time over 8 hours.
Starring: Alun Armstrong, Martin Kemp, Martin Clunes and James Bolam with James Laurenson, Celia Imrie, Keeley Hawes, Richard Hope, James Hazeldine and Richard Griffiths.
The Brides in the Bath
This chilling drama stars Martin Kemp as murderer George Joseph Smith, arguably the first British man to be tried and convicted as a serial killer. Smith bigamously married at least 7 women between 1908 and 1915, stealing their belongings before vanishing. His first victim Bessie Mundy, was a wealthy spinster who Smith married after a brief romance. Smith committed more murders, each wife being drowned in her bath. Barrister Edward Marshall-Hall, (played by Richard Griffiths), defended Smith at his 1915 trial for the murder of Bessie Mundy. It was one of the first cases in which striking similarities between connected crimes were used to prove guilt, a technique used in subsequent prosecutions.
Harold Shipman. Doctor Death
Starring James Bolam as the doctor responsible for the death of over 215 of his patients. Harold Shipman gave diamorphine to his unsuspecting victims. When the daughter of one of his victims discovered a will making Shipman the only beneficiary, he manipulated his computer records to cover his tracks.
This is Personal. The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper
A superb dramatization of the biggest manhunt in British criminal history for Peter Sutcliffe, the Yorkshire Ripper. Alun Armstrong gives a powerful performance as George Oldfield, the detective who headed the hunt. As the murders continued, the pressure built, with complications caused by a hoax tape and letters. Oldfield survived a heart attack and finally came face-to-face with Sutcliffe.
A is for Acid. The Story of the Notorious Serial Killer, John Haigh
A historical drama starring Martin Clunes as British serial killer John George Haigh, the infamous acid bath murderer. Brought up in 1920s Yorkshire, Haigh was sent to jail for fraud. Whilst incarcerated, he discovered by chance the impact acid had on the bodies of animals. After his release, Haigh re-invented himself as a respectable, well-dressed charmer. Believing he could not be found guilty of murder if a body didn’t exist, he acquired a workshop where he disposed of the bodies of his victims in an acid bath. Despite pleading insanity at his trial, he was eventually convicted for the murder of six people, although he claimed to have killed nine.
