BBC Documentaries

Love You To Death: A Year of Domestic Violence (2015x289)

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On average, seven women are killed every month in Britain by their husband, partner or ex-partner. Vanessa Engle’s ambitious and important film tells the gripping and untold human stories behind this shocking yet faceless statistic, shedding light on a majorly important subject - the continuing and disproportionate violence visited by men on women every day. This powerful and poignant landmark film by acclaimed BBC director Vanessa Engle, (Inside Harley Street, Walking With Dogs, Money) gives an unprecedented insight into the deaths of women murdered by the men who knew them intimately, and cared most about them. The film will name each of the 86 women who died at the hands of their male partner or ex-partner during one calendar year, from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013. Woven into this list are more detailed accounts of a range of individual deaths, told through personal testimony from the parents, siblings, children, friends and neighbours of the women who died. Family members give detailed accounts of what took place, as well as speaking openly about their feelings, their loved ones and their grief. The women named in the film died in widely different circumstances. Some are stories of long-term domestic violence, others are sudden and unexpected violent deaths. Some are alcohol or mental-health related, others to do with divorce, rejection or sexual jealousy. Some are newlyweds, others are older couples who have been married for decades. In a few of the most violent cases, the men killed their children too and in some instances killed themselves. The women are from different parts of the country and are of differing ages, social classes and ethnic backgrounds.