Great Crimes and Trials of the Twentieth Century

First broadcast on The History Channel, this 26-part series takes an informative trawl through some of the most notorious crimes and bogeymen of the last century.

Refreshingly, it forgoes the Crimewatch-style dramatic reconstructions which appear to be de rigueur and chooses instead to let the stories tell themselves through contemporary documentation and footage.

And what stories, from the killer hippies of Charles Manson and murdering clown John Wayne Gacy through the reigns of terror inspired by The Boston Strangler, The Yorkshire Ripper and the Son of Sam to the numbing horror of the Jonestown massacre.

Also covered are the Lindbergh kidnapping, gangsters Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and John Dillinger, The Black Panther, John Christie, John Haigh, The Great Train Robbery, Crippen, the massacre of the tsar's family, Gary Gilmore, Ted Bundy and lesser known cases such as Dr Sam Sheppard's possibly tragic miscarriage of justice.

Robert Powell's dulcet tones maintain an air of class and all episodes offer a wealth of amazing and rarely seen footage.