With access to family, neighbours and professionals who knew Michael Donovan, this is the story of the man who abducted 9-year-old Shannon Matthews in 2008 and kept her in his flat for 24 days before she was found in a dramatic rescue by the police.
Social & External
The people behind it
Karen Matthews
Self (Archive)
Lucy Thornton
Self (Daily Mirror Reporter)
Nick Townsend
Self (Detective W.Yorkshire Police)
In 2020, Rhianan Rudd became the youngest girl to be charged with terror offences in the UK. But was she really a dangerous far-right extremist? Or just a vulnerable teenager? Drawing on exclusive testimony, poignant family archive and previously unseen material, this documentary re-examines the events that led Rhianan into the criminal justice system.
An infamous serial killer who assaulted and killed several women in the '90s, gets on a collision course with a young journalist eager for the truth and a career-changing article.
Dean Olds and his wife Suzanne appeared to have it all -- a nice home, a 30-year marriage, and three grown children. Then on December 28, 1993, Suzanne was found beaten to death in the driveway of her home. Over the next three years, Dean's double life would be exposed, and he would end up penniless and alone.
Author Helen Bailey thought she'd found the perfect ending to her own story when she met Ian Stewart, but this was no fairy-tale romance; it was a story that would end in her murder. When the renowned writer of children's books was reported missing, her fiancé Ian Stewart claimed that she had simply gone to her holiday home in Broadstairs to 'clear her head'. Later, he was charged with her murder when her body was discovered in a cesspit underneath their home, killed by her fiancé who stood to inherit the 4 million estate.
This crime drama is based on the true story of Billy Isaacs. Freshly escaped from prison, Isaac is picked up by his brothers, and the entire dysfunctional brood embarks on a crime spree that takes them through a dozen states, claiming the lives of six innocent people .
She is a full-length documentary about writer Aimée Baker and her award-winning poetry collection Doe. Doe is her quest to give voice to the missing and unidentified women of the United States.
A group of teenagers from Flint, Michigan filmed themselves kidnapping and terrorizing a new acquaintance, before taking her out to a woods and dumping her in a shallow grave. They then taunted their terrified and blindfolded victim asking if she had any last requests before they cut her throat. But was the kidnap real or just a game? Three days later the tape was in the hands of the police and the 5 teenager friends were in custody facing life imprisonment. This program talks to the people at the heart of this story - including two of the defendants - in an attempt to understand what really happened in the woods around Flint last year. It also screens the video of the 'abduction'. What is revealed is an extraordinary and disturbing record of a night when something went terribly, terribly wrong.
Examines the case from every angle, shedding light on the victims and on the suspect, Rex Heuermann.
A teenage girl goes missing from her home in Bristol, prompting a huge search across the city and a social media campaign to find her. As days pass fears grow that she may have come to harm. As the police investigation progresses shocking evidence is discovered, pointing towards a family member for her murder but no one could have imagined what happened next.
Charlie Cullen was an experienced registered nurse, trusted and beloved by his colleagues at Somerset Medical Center in New Jersey. He is also one of history’s most prolific serial killers, with a body count potentially numbering in the hundreds across multiple medical facilities in the Northeast.
Police bodycam footage reveals how a long-running neighborhood dispute turned fatal in this documentary about fear, prejudice and Stand Your Ground laws.
The notorious Bimal Mandal, who ruled the Rishra-Hindmotor-Konnagar area for years, gets arrested by Dibakar Sen. However, he gets away due to lack of evidence. Soon, Dibakar and Hubba, seem to become alter egos of one another and morality gets blurred.
3 real life stories taken from the Mexican police archive.
Los Angeles, 1928. When single mother Christine Collins leaves for work, her son vanishes without a trace. Five months later, the police reunite mother and son. But when Christine suspects that the boy returned to her isn't her child, her quest for truth exposes a world of corruption.
Paris, France, during the First World War. While thousands of soldiers die every day on the battlefields, Henri Landru, a seemingly respectable furniture dealer, married and father of four children, relentlessly feeds his own sinister factory of death.
A true crime noir about the execution of Ruth Snyder
An investigation into the original 1993 Michael Jackson allegations brought by the Chandler family.
Eleven bodies are found dumped on Long Island between 2010 and 2011; journalists Alexis Linkletter and Billy Jensen investigate corruption at the highest level of the Suffolk County Police Department and why the case has never been solved.
In 1994, a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three-and-a-half years later, he is found alive in a village in southern Spain with a horrifying story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems.
Elizabeth Smart's harrowing abduction at 14 from her family's Utah home unfolds through her own words and never-before-seen material in this documentary.
Legendary journalist Gay Talese unmasks a motel owner who spied on his guests for decades. But his bombshell story soon becomes a scandal of its own.
Police pull over a woman who claims she just gave birth. But the baby — and the blood — aren't hers. Twisted lies unravel in this true-crime documentary.
A young mother’s mysterious death and her son’s subsequent kidnapping blow open a decades-long mystery about the woman’s true identity, and the murderous federal fugitive at the center of it all.
Antwerp, 2003. A gang of thieves rob the impenetrable Diamond Center. Who was behind one of the world's biggest heists - and how did they pull it off?
Using raw, firsthand footage, this documentary examines the disappearance of Shanann Watts and her children, and the terrible events that followed.
A family falls prey to the manipulative charms of a neighbor, who abducts their adolescent daughter. Twice.
A teen slams her car into a building, killing her boyfriend and his friend. What seems like a tragic accident becomes a murder case.
Unravel the case of Utah therapist Jodi Hildebrandt, whose child abuse arrest with parenting YouTuber Ruby Franke exposed a twisted tale of manipulation.
Aileen Wuornos remains a rarity: a female serial killer. From childhood abuse to death-row revelations, this documentary revisits her life and crimes.
Raised by a man leading a monstrous double life, the daughter of the BTK serial killer shares her chilling story.
Set within the stark Icelandic landscape, OUT OF THIN AIR examines the 1976 police investigation into the disappearance of two men in the early 1970s.
New exclusive access and never before heard testimony gives a unique insight into the mind of America's most notorious serial killer, Ted Bundy. Breathtaking archive from the time and the voice of Bundy himself, reveals the monster inside the man.
In 2001, Andrew Bagby, a medical resident, is murdered not long after breaking up with his girlfriend. Soon after, when she announces she's pregnant, one of Andrew's many close friends, Kurt Kuenne, begins this film, a gift to the child.
A chef's life is upended when a jet-setting, champagne-sipping, hotel-hopping woman claims to be his long-lost mother. This documentary reveals the untold story.
A young man's dramatic rescue at sea spirals into accusations he murdered two members of his wealthy New England family.
In the mid-aughts, Dateline NBC's To Catch a Predator drew millions of weekly viewers to watch sting operations: men planning to meet minors for sex would instead be confronted by polished host Chris Hansen, then by the police — all on hidden camera.
Vulgar, taunting texts blow up the phones of a teen and her boyfriend. Who's sending them — and why? This twisty documentary reveals the shocking answer.
When Jennifer Pan calls 911 to report that her parents have been shot, she becomes the primary focus of a captivating criminal case.