Crime + Investigation

Why true crime television pays

(Credit: Shutterstock)

The country is in the grip of an escalating crime wave, yet the public can’t get enough of it. Viewers used to get their vicarious thrills from fictional detective drama – now we are becoming fixated on real-life serial killers and violent psychopaths. 

This autumn, True Crime on Channel 4 is set to join the Channel 4 family – and go up against two existing bespoke true-crime channels, A+E Networks UK’s Crime + Investigation and Sky Crime. 

Psychologists look inside the minds of serial killers at Making a Monster screening and Q&A

From left: Karen Robinson, Dr Julian Boon, Dr Samantha Lundrigan and Prof Paul Britton (Credit: Paul Hampartsoumian)

Murderers – even serial killers – are made, not born. This is the thesis of new Crime+Investigation series Making a Monster, which offers a fresh take on the increasingly popular true-crime genre.

The series elicits the views of leading psychologists, interwoven with dramatic reconstructions, as it revisits the crimes of notorious killers, who include Rose West, Levi Bellfield and Aileen Wuornos.