Introduction

Great Crimes and Trials (sometimes titled Great Crimes and Trials of the Twentieth Century) is a 1993-1996 BBC documentary television series and 2011 by Investigation Discovery.

Outline (1993-1996)

The programme uses archival material to reconstruct a renowned crime, examining the felon’s motives, details of the crime, the investigations and the trial.

Each episode is narrated by actor Robert Powell (1993-1996).

Outline (2011)

In 2011 the Investigation Discovery rebooted the series narrated by Alisdair Simpson, with infamous cases from the late 20th century and the early 21st century.

The series aired one season with 26 episodes.

Release

Broadcast

The series was originally broadcast on Tuesday afternoons on BBC2 in the United Kingdom and in the United States on the A&E Network. In the mid-late 2000s the programme was repeated on weekdays in the United Kingdom on the Crime & Investigation Network. The broadcast of the series began on Russian TV-6 channel in the fall 2000.

Home Media

Several collections of Great Crimes and Trials have been released to VHS and DVD. The first and second series were released on video by Columbia Tristar in 1997. The first series was released on DVD by Columbia Tristar in 2005, and the third series was released on DVD by Network DVD in 2011.

In the US, two collections were released by Sony as part of the “Sony Choice Collection” line of burn-on-demand DVD-R’s in 2013. Great Crimes And Trials of the 20th Century, Volume 1: Gruesome California features six episodes on one disc of crimes that took place in California and Great Crimes And Trials of the 20th Century, Volume 2: The Original Gangstas features five mob and gangster related episodes on one disc.

Book

A book to accompany the series was published by Carlton Books in late 1993 written by Paul Begg and Martin Fido. Comprising twenty eight true crime cases, the book profiles twenty five of those from series one (including The Hammersmith Murders), one case which would later be profiled in series three (Bentley and Craig) and two that were never featured on the programme (The Krays and The Moors Murders).

Great Crimes and Trials Series

Only military-related episodes are shown below.

• Series 01 (1993):
  • Episode 09: The Green Beret Killings.
  • Episode 14: The Trial of Adolf Eichmann.
  • Episode 16: The Massacre of the Tsar and the Imperial Family.

• Series 02 (1994):
  • Episode 09: Hitler and Nuremberg Trials.
  • Episode 10: Stalin and the Massacre at Katyn Wood.
  • Episode 13: The Kennedy Assassination.
  • Episode 19: The Rosenbergs.

• Series 03 (1996):
  • Episode 08: Lord Haw-Haw.
  • Episode 20: The Siege of Sidney Street.
  • Episode 24: Pol Pot and the Killing Fields of Cambodia.
  • Episode 25: The Malmedy Massacre.

Each of the series had 26 episodes (104 episodes across four series).

Production & Filming Details

• Narrator(s):
  • Robert Powell (1993-1996)
  • Alisdair Simpson (2011)
• Director(s):
• Producer(s):
  • Ron Glenister … producer
  • Jonathan Martin … executive producer
  • Philip Nugus … executive producer
  • Jonathan Martin … executive producer
• Writer(s):
  • Elkan Allan … (script writer)
  • Elkan Allan … (writer)
  • George Marshall … (researcher)
  • Adrian Wood … (researcher)
• Music:
• Cinematography:
• Editor(s):
  • Stewart Gray … on-line editor
  • Crispin Julian … off-line editor
• Production:
  • Nugus/Martin Productions Ltd.
  • Columbia TriStar Home Video (for)
  • Arts and Entertainment Network (in association with)
  • History Channel
• Distributor(s):
  • BBC
• Release Date:
  • Series 01: 1993.
  • Series 02: 1994.
  • Series 03: 1996.
  • Series 04: 2011.
• Running time: 30 minutes.
• Rating: Unknown.
• Country: UK.
• Language: English.

Video Link(s)