Review

A very important program that over the years recreated reconstructions of serious unsolved crimes. These were then followed up by appeals from the police for witnesses to get in touch, the detective would also go over a few key features of the case. I gather a few details in the reconstructions would have to be changed to protect the identity of the victims sometimes. The show seemed to have some success in helping to solve crimes, even those from 10 or 20 years ago, however many cases are still unsolved. The show became the centre of a strange case of horrible irony when one it's presenters Jill Dando was herself shot dead in a crime that stunned the country. Some of the reconstructions were quite scary knowing they really happened. Over the years the presentation of the show changed and some thought not for the better, but overall this has remained an important program.

For me the best presenters were Nick Robinson, Sue Cook with DC Jacqui Hames chipping in with updates and appeals for information. The show ran like clockwork in a smooth and measured way.

Jill Dando joined the team in the 1990s, Nick Robinson was then paired with Fiona Bruce who I thought was always calm, professional and engaging.

Things went wrong about 2007 when things in the studio started to become much more frantic, the reconstructions started to employ flashy editing, in the past when reconstructing a sex crime it would always fade to black once the victim had been approached and brought to the crime scene, in the new ones we'd actually see the beginning of the attack in sudden graphic short cuts accompanied by the kind of music you'd normally expect in A Friday the 13th movie or something. The introduction of Kirsty Young as a presenter didn't work for me either, she always seemed to be shaking with rage and always had to make some emotive comments after each reconstruction, the viewer was there to get facts and information, not to hear her pass judgement on each case. The show pretty much ended in 2016 by which time the budget was cut so much Jeremy Vine presented it in front of a police van with flashing lights.