Locked in police station vaults, all around the world are hundreds of hours of taped recordings, secret interviews with some of the world’s most notorious murderers. But given their often-poor quality, these recordings have limited impact but, what if they could be brought back to life? Confessions of a serial killer allows the viewer to experience what it’s like to sit in the claustrophobic setting of a police interview room: face to face with evil.
This thrilling series sees Professor David Wilson answer the question, ‘What’s it like to interview a serial murderer?’ Actors and lip-sync technology bring to life the nerve-jangling real audio taken from the confessions. These highly emotive dramatic re-creations of the police interrogations will be complimented by dramatic reconstructions of the crimes themselves. These will be further supported by interviews with leading experts, including an in-depth discussion in each episode with Professor Michael Brookes.
Nilsen murdered 15 young men, whose bodies he sorts to preserve as companions, before dismembering their remains for disposal down the toilet. Despite the horrific nature of his crimes, few killers have ever confessed to murders as willingly or eagerly as Denis Nilsen. The ultimate Narcissist, he delighted in sharing every graphic detail of his killings with his interviewers.
In 1996, Colin Ireland murdered 5 gay men in a 2-week killing spree. Dubbed the gay slayer, his acts of cruelty towards his victims perhaps masked his own sense of self-loathing and confusion over his sexuality. Following his arrest, he was silent for a month. When he finally spoke to police, he described each of his murders in cold and calculating detail unlike anything ever heard by detectives before - or since.
Robert Black is the worst child killer in modern British history. Convicted of the abduction, and murder of four school girls. However, he is widely cited of having murdered up to ten more children, in a ten-year campaign of terror, that murdered the meaning of childhood for a generation. In 1993 he agreed to be interviewed, by the renowned councillor Ray Wyre. What emerged was a chilling insight into Black's deadly modus operandi and revelations that he had knowledge of the disappearance of many other girls.
3rd birthday drinks from 5.30 pm Monday 5th October
