Crimes That Shook Britain

I recommend this documentary as one of the best definitive Suzy Lamplugh films from the early 2000s.

It has a wealth of information on the case, the police mishandling and prejudice from day one, which is equally as sad and frustrating as Suzy's actual disappearance.

It is a shame that Jim Dicke didn't take charge of the investigation from the outset, and the case could have been solved a lot earlier. All the witness information was stored on cards (not all the police officers could use the computers at the time), so vital information was lost in the system, and a suspect was only identified much later.

This show majors on interviewing various people associated with the crimes, but minors on the details. Way too many filler bits, like a woman walking along a path (that they show multiple times in the same episode - boring) or scenery they make no effort to link to the crimes. Was that fence where they found a victim? Is it merely more filler? Plus many of the lead "experts" speak in a monotone, totally flat, with nothing in the background except light. It would have been nice with a little dressing up of the set, like do it in an interesting pub, or some effort made to at least coach the experts on how to add emotion to their performance. What a snore. I did appreciate that they showed childhood photos of some of the subjects that I had not seen before. Like Joanna Dennehy. It must be a popular show since there are so many seasons, but I wouldn't sit down and watch it for entertainment.

The first 5 seasons of this show are very good and highly recommended if you like true crime documentaries.

It is well written and researched and the stories presented are done so in great detail for the majority of the cases. The narration is also very good and adds that extra edge of suspense especially when dealing with the various subject matter.

Now, I'm not sure who of the higher ups at Sky or A&E (the 2 broadcasters who brought about this show) thought that messing with the writing and presentation format was a good idea, but it completely killed the show. And thinking that Dermot Murnaghan was the best person to host was also an extremely misguided decision.

I believe the saying goes "if it isn't broken then why fix it?".

Don't bother with this show after season 5 as that's time you'll never get back in your life, the writing is terrible, as is the narration and presentation of the stories.