Channel 5 - Harold Shipman (2014) Part 1 Driven to Kill

Harold Shipman

On the tenth anniversary of his death, this two-part documentary claims to be the definitive account of Doctor Harold Shipman's notorious crimes. It certainly offers a thorough examination of how a respected pillar of the community was eventually exposed as Britain's most prolific serial killer. One of the most astonishing aspects of the case is how Shipman got away with it for so long. Despite being outed as a drug addict in the '70s, he only ever received a fine and a warning for his conduct. Most agree that he should've been struck off. And yet he continued to practice and prey upon his patients for years thereafter.

Filled with contributions from former colleagues and relatives of his victims, the programme also contains several dramatic reconstructions. So often the risible bane of true-crime documentaries, on this occasion they're relatively restrained.

Part 1: Driven to Kill

The first instalment of this two-part programme looks at what drove Shipman to kill over a period of almost 30 years, examining his early school days as a model pupil up to his time as a junior doctor in Pontefract Hospital. Featuring interviews with Margaret Sivorn, who worked with him in Pontefract, and consultant forensic psychiatrist Richard Badcock, who was the only psychiatrist to assess Shipman.

CH5

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