November Chillers: Two Brilliant New True Crimes Series Premiering on CBS Reality This Month
If you’re a true crime fanatic, you’ll know that there’s no better place to get your fix than CBS Reality. From high-profile murders and serial killers to cold cases and bizarre crimes, this channel is the gold standard. And there’s great news coming in November, with not one, but two brand-new original series debuting this month.
In even better news, you won’t need to wait long either. As “Donal MacIntyre’s Released to Kill“ continues on Wednesdays at 10pm, welcoming back long-time channel favourite Donal MacIntyre with his latest true crime series.
Join the renowned undercover reporter and criminologist as he delves into the criminal investigations of murders committed by previously convicted individuals. Donal explores every aspect of the criminals’ actions, which often occur mere days after they were released. Each case is painstakingly interrogated with archive news footage, specially shot dramatic reconstructions and interviews with those involved on the ground during the events themselves.
The British criminal justice system and the often-complex parole process is dissected. Donal consults with a selection of experts from within the prosecuting system – prosecutors, criminal psychiatrists, prison governors and probation officers. Each case is unravelled, and we discover how and why these individuals committed a murder after being released from prison. Could these puzzling crimes have been prevented? We’ll find out in each episode.
Each programme tells the tale of one tragic and perplexing case. We’ll learn about the backgrounds of the murderers and what made them tick, both before and after they were in prison. Donal will also investigate and uncover what possible motives could have driven the criminals to such appalling depths. The first episode delves into the historic case of Theodore Johnson, who murdered three women over the course of four decades. Another case subjected to Donal’s microscope is the unsettling tale of the Peterborough ditch murders. In a rare case of a female serial killer, 31-year-old Joanna Dennehy stabbed three men to death and attempted to kill two more over a few short days in March 2013.
And if that wasn’t enough for you true crime afficionados, then also premiering on CBS Reality in November is “Murder: First on Scene”. This fascinating series forensically explores how the police and specialists work to give the best possible chance for a conviction, with each step often relying on the previous person’s work to enable the case to move forward – one mistake or wrong move could derail an investigation.
The series takes us through each painstaking step in the process from the discovery of the body, the investigation and the arrest, all the way to the guilty verdict. We learn how all the different parts of the machine battle against time together to discover, apprehend and sentence the killer.
And while the programme shines a piercing light on the processes, we also learn about the police and specialists themselves. Each of them takes us through the difficulties they faced and how the cases affected them personally. We’ll find out how their determination to get justice for the victim and their family drove them to overcome all the obstacles in their way.
Each engrossing episode follows every twist and turn of a murder enquiry, each setback and each breakthrough. It’s all done through the eyes of the experts involved - the call handlers, the paramedics, the detectives, the forensics officers, the medical examiners, the cyber specialists and the prosecutors. We see each of them straining every sinew, lifting every stone together to ensure justice is done.
The series weaves its way through ten real life murder cases, unearthing the complex and interlinked nature of each investigation and the painstaking procedures and ingenious tactics used to nail the killer. Each story is told through stylised and specially filmed reconstructions and the testimonials of those personally involved. Cases include a mysterious murder outside a sleepy railway station in Derbyshire, the discovery of a woman’s body at a pumping station in Hull, and a US investigation into the death of a woman in a peaceful and picturesque town in Ohio.
Donal MacIntyre's Released to Kill continues Wednesdays at 10pm.
Murder: First on Scene will premiere on Tuesday 16th November at 10pm.
CBS Reality is available on Freeview (66), Sky (146), Virgin (148) and Freesat (135)
