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Catching Britain's Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us

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Factual: Crime & Justice

The stories of murder investigations and their extraordinary consequences.

The stories of murder investigations and their extraordinary consequences, which overturned laws, transformed police interrogation and revolutionised forensic detection.

Series 1

Catching Britain’s Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us

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Catching Britain's Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us: Series 1: DNA

BBC Two - Catching Britain's Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us, Series 1, DNA

A 1980s murder hunt leads to a new forensic science - DNA fingerprinting.

The story of the hunt to find the killer of two teenage girls in 1980s Leicestershire which led to an extraordinary forensic breakthrough - DNA fingerprinting.

This episode begins in Leicestershire in the heart of England, in the 1980s.

In 1983 and then only three years later, in 1986, the villages of Narborough and Enderby were shaken by the murders of two local teenage girls who were attacked and killed in very similar circumstances. 

Weaving together archive footage and interviews with police officers, local journalists and forensic scientists, as well as friends and close relatives of the victims, this programme tells the story of the investigation, and how the struggle to find the killer would lead to the very first use of a brand new forensic science – DNA fingerprinting. 

Following the course of this incredible scientific breakthrough and its use in the Leicestershire murders investigation, the episode explores the creation of Britain’s DNA database, a world first, as well as the development and evolution of this investigative tool which would lead to convictions for crimes that had, until then, been impossible to solve. 

Exploring the ripples of one single investigation and the coincidences, twists and turns that led to this historic breakthrough, the programme paints a portrait of the 1980s as well as revealing the unforeseen, unfolding consequences of this pivotal investigation that has changed crime detection around the world.

Catching Britain's Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us: Series 1

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Catching Britain's Killers: The Crimes That Changed Us

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