Murder, Mystery and My Family

Original version

Simulcast of BBC Two Northern Ireland in high definition

BBC Two

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

Documentaries

Factual

Factual: Crime & Justice

Top criminal barristers Sasha Wass and Jeremy Dein reinvestigate historical cases.

Series 4

Simulcast of network BBC One in high definition. From 03/11/2010

BBC One HD

BBC One London

London

Simulcast of BBC One Wales in high definition. From 29/01/2013

BBC One Wales HD

The BBC South West region started on 20th April 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South West.

BBC One South West

BBC One Cambridgeshire

BBC One Wales

Wales

BBC One Oxfordshire

Formerly part of a wider BBC One South East region that included London and part of the South region. Separated from BBC One London 2001-09-03 following reorganisation of the South East region.

BBC One South East

Simulcast of BBC One Northern Ireland in high definition. From 24/10/2012

BBC One Northern Ireland HD

BBC One Yorks & Lincs

BBC One Scotland

Scotland

BBC One region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire.

BBC One East Midlands

The BBC North East & Cumbria region started in 1959 (tbc) as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One North East & Cumbria.

BBC One North East & Cumbria

BBC One Channel Islands

The BBC West region started on 1st September 1957 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One West.

BBC One West

BBC One North West

BBC One West Midlands

The BBC South region started on 5th January 1961 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One South.

BBC One South

BBC One Yorkshire

The BBC East region started on 1st May 1959 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One East.

BBC One East

Simulcast of BBC One Scotland in high definition. From 14/01/2013

BBC One Scotland HD

BBC Northern Ireland region started on 19th April 1955 as part of the BBC Television Service, before becoming BBC One Northern Ireland.

BBC One Northern Ireland

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

BBC Two England

England

Simulcast of BBC Two Wales in high definition

BBC Two Wales HD

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

BBC Two Northern Ireland

Sasha Wass

Jeremy Dein

James Pearson

Clare Wales

Mike Benson

Simon Cooper

Johanna Scammell

Michael Klokkos

Chalkboard TV

Murder, Mystery and My Family: Series 4: Lowson

Lowson

BBC One - Murder, Mystery and My Family, Series 4, Lowson

Sasha and Jeremy examine the brutal murder of a policeman in County Durham in 1884.

Barristers Sasha Wass and Jeremy Dein re-examine a case from 1884 in which three men stood trial for the murder of a policeman, but only one received a death sentence.

Leading criminal barristers Sasha Wass QC and Jeremy Dein QC re-examine a brutal murder of a policeman. Three men were tried for the crime, but only one was hanged. 

Butterknowle, County Durham, 1884. On a dark and rainy Saturday night, following a pigeon-shooting competition, Police Sergeant William Smith was out on his rounds at pub closing time. Suddenly, a group of three men emerged from the darkness and brutally attacked him. The assault was so severe that his skull was fractured, and he was left for dead in the road. Two passing doctors went to the wounded sergeant’s aid, and he was carried to his house. But a couple of hours later, Sergeant Smith died from his injuries.

Suspicion fell on three local miners who had been drinking in Butterknowle that evening. Among them was 25-year-old Joseph Lowson. Lowson’s brother-in-law William Siddle had previously been charged with assaulting Sergeant Smith, and the two of them were arrested along with friend Joseph Hodgson.

The three men stood trial together at the Durham Assizes, all desperately professing their innocence. The two doctors identified the three miners, and Lowson was linked to the crime by a button that was missing from his shirt and found at the scene.  
 
Hodgson was acquitted by the jury, but Lowson and Siddle were both found guilty and sentenced to death. At the last minute, Siddle was reprieved and on 27 May 1884, Joseph Lowson, alone, was hanged.

Now, over 100 years later, Joseph Lowson’s great-great-nephew Peter is looking to reassess the case and has enlisted the help of the barristers. Jeremy and Sasha meet an identification expert and a forensic scientist to re-evaluate the evidence against Lowson that proved so damning at trial. In a case where three men stood trial and only one was executed, will they find anything to cast doubt on the original verdict?

Murder, Mystery and My Family: Series 4

BBC One

Jeremy Dein and Sasha Wass re-examine historic murder cases

Top criminal barristers Sasha Wass and Jeremy Dein re-examine historic murder cases which may have been miscarriages of justice to provide answers for the family of the convicted.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Murder, Mystery and My Family

Series 4

Lowson

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

About BBC Two