For our exploration of the link between a bad childhood and crime, having colleagues with a prison background helped built genuine trust with nervous contributors.
The birth of What Makes A Murderer was a truly organic process. At the heart of Underworld TV’s development team are a number of ex-criminals, ranging from ex-armed robbers and fraudsters to smugglers and violent offenders.
The first challenge was finding three convicted murderers, who were willing to have the darkest chapters of their life and the contents of their brain broadcast on national TV. Using the Underworld TV network and some very gifted documentary producers, we had incredible conversations with more than 300 murderers who had served their time and been released.
This series is true to what we identified at the start: that crime and violence stem from early childhood experiences and that if we were to give children the proper support, we could prevent a huge amount of distress in the future.
