BBC Documentaries

Watching The Dead (2009x33)

: 24, 2009

Documentary which explores television's fascination with forensics, revisiting classic shows like Quincy and Marius Goring's The Expert and looking at the appeal of contemporary dramas such as Silent Witness, Waking The Dead and CSI. The film examines how scientific advances like genetic fingerprinting have been reflected in the crime drama, finds out how pathology got so sexy, how accurate the science shown on screen actually is, and how TV cops solved crimes before DNA. Contributors include Sue Johnston from Waking The Dead, Tom Ward and William Gaminara from Silent Witness, and old Quincy himself, Jack Klugman. Plus comment from crime writers, scientists and detectives.