Today, April 18 2024, BBC presents the series where this dramatic true crime series reveals how some of the UK’s most serious and complex cases were solved by the expertise of a band of unsung heroes – the expert witnesses.
Expert Witness Today, April 18 2024
| Date | Summary | New / Repeat |
| Date | Summary | New / Repeat |
|---|---|---|
| Friday, 16 December 2022 | Pollen, Ballistics and DNA Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 10 of 10 Expert witnesses analyse nettles and soil to catch the killer of the Soham schoolgirls, new DNA techniques finally solve cold case murders, and ballistics techniques are demonstrated. | New |
| Thursday, 15 December 2022 | Paint, Blood and Fingerprints Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 9 of 10 A forensic art expert proves paintings by a well-known artist are fake, blood spatter patterns in a hotel help catch the killer of a father of three, and there's a fingerprinting masterclass. | New |
| Wednesday, 14 December 2022 | Cold Case DNA and Bones Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 8 of 10 A DNA expert witness helps solve a 50-year-old crime, a murder investigation is solved by tracking unusual blue fibres around the world, and forensic anthropology is explored. | New |
| Tuesday, 13 December 2022 | Suspicious Texts, DNA and Soil Secrets Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 7 of 10 Text message analysis reveals a shocking crime, and DNA on old evidence catches a killer. Soil science and the first murder case solved using DNA evidence are also explored. | New |
| Monday, 12 December 2022 | Fibre Trails, Diamonds and Toxicology Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 6 of 10 Expert witnesses use fibre and DNA evidence to solve three violent cold cases in Pembrokeshire, a gemmologist exposes a diamond investment scam, and Ashley visits a toxicology lab. | New |
| Friday, 9 December 2022 | Soil Secrets and Crime Scene Management Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 5 of 10 Ashley John-Baptiste is taken to a mock crime scene and learns from a crime scene expert about the importance of the role. He is shown how to preserve, examine and analyse a scene of a crime. | New |
| Thursday, 8 December 2022 | Blood Under Paint and Gait - Fibres Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 4 of 10 Blood traces hidden under paint help an expert witness overturn a miscarriage of justice, an unusual gait identifies a killer and the science of fibre evidence is explored. | New |
| Wednesday, 7 December 2022 | DNA, Fibres and Facial Reconstruction Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 3 of 10 After 32 years, expert fibre analysis helps to bring the killer of two Brighton schoolgirls to justice, and the analysis of bones found on a Yorkshire moor helps to find two killers. | New |
| Tuesday, 6 December 2022 | Forensic Imaging and MSN Chat - BPA Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 2 of 10 Marks left by a shoe help detectives catch a killer, a forensic linguist deciphers digital messages - revealing a murder plot, and the power of blood pattern analysis is examined. | New |
| Monday, 5 December 2022 | Soil and Insects - Hair Series 1 (Extended Versions) Episode 1 of 10 A serial killer is caught by using soil analysis, insects hold the clues to finding a murderer and the forensic sciences of hair evidence and entomology are put under the microscope. | New |
| Friday, 2 December 2022 | Killer on the Run and Murder in the Valleys Series 2 Episode 15 of 15 When a man kills four people and goes on the run, a handwriting analyst is brought in, and after a body is found, an expert in pollen links the suspects to the scene of the crime. | New |
| Thursday, 1 December 2022 | Deadly Date and the Football Fraudster Series 2 Episode 14 of 15 A dental expert helps police investigating the mysterious death of a teenage girl, and an autograph expert is brought in to help convict scammers selling fake celebrity signatures. | New |
| Wednesday, 30 November 2022 | A Scottish Murder and Artful Deceit Series 2 Episode 13 of 15 An expert in mobile phone technology tracks the movements of a murder suspect, and an expert in art fraud determines whether a very expensive painting is genuine or fake. | New |
| Tuesday, 29 November 2022 | Murder in the Carpark and Cold Call Fraud Series 2 Episode 12 of 15 Blood spatter analysis helps identify the killer of a body found in a suitcase, and an expert helps in a serious case of financial fraud that cost some victims their life savings. | New |
| Monday, 28 November 2022 | Sole of a Killer and Stolen Treasure Series 2 Episode 11 of 15 Police turn to a footprint analyst and a pollen expert to help solve a murder in Manchester, and a soil expert unearths the evidence needed to arrest a gang of treasure thieves. | New |
| Friday, 25 November 2022 | No show today | New |
| Thursday, 24 November 2022 | Car Killer and Shot on the Sofa Series 2 Episode 10 of 15 A blood spatter analyst unlocks the mystery of a woman murdered in her own car, and an expert witness uses a mobile phone to help detectives solve a baffling murder case. | New |
| Wednesday, 23 November 2022 | Invisible Evidence and the Chocolate Box Conmen Series 2 Episode 9 of 15 An expert in microscopic lifeforms helps solve the murder of a teenager, and a handwriting expert assists an old lady whose house has been sold without consent. | New |
| Tuesday, 22 November 2022 | Late Night Murder and Exhuming Evidence Series 2 Episode 8 of 15 When a young nurse disappears, a soil analyst helps find her body and solve the crime. A digital imaging expert proves that what was thought to be an accidental death was murder. | New |
| Monday, 21 November 2022 | Murder in the Suburbs and Search for a Serial Killer Series 2 Episode 6 of 15 In our first story, a community reels in total shock when a doting grandmother is found murdered in her home. Detectives search for the killer and suspect it may be someone close to her. The suspect’s DNA is found all over the crime scene, but that is easily explained because he lived until recently in the same house. So the police try another route. They approach Kelly Sheridan, an expert witness in fibre evidence, who uncovers a trail of fibres, unravelling the mystery and putting the killer in jail. More than 40 years ago, fibre analysis was still a relatively new forensic discipline. Despite this, police hoped it could help solve a string of child murders in the 1980s and 90s, but in the end it took old-fashioned detective work to close the case of killer Robert Black. Looking back, the case shows how this area of forensic science has been transformed over just four decades. Jim Fraser was the lead scientist in the Black investigation, and his experience shows that scientific progress is achieved through failure as well as success. Body in the Bog and Bomb in the Boot Series 2 Episode 7 of 15 An expert witness uses soil analysis to find the body of a missing woman feared murdered, and a cell site expert uses his tracking skills to catch a killer in Northern Ireland. | New |
| Friday, 18 November 2022 | Body in the Woods and Murder at the Post Office Series 2 Episode 5 of 15 This episode follows two shocking criminal cases in Yorkshire, each involving a woman murdered by her partner and two expert witness with very different disciplines in forensic science who help to deliver justice. We often think about crime scene investigations as being about the DNA left behind in traces of blood, hair or skin cells at the site of an attack, but in our first story, it was the site itself, the natural environment, that provided the biggest clue to detectives. A young woman went missing in Hull, and despite an emotional appeal by her partner, he soon became a chief suspect in the missing woman’s case. But suspecting who might be the perpetrator of a crime is one thing; proving beyond reasonable doubt that the suspect was responsible is another. Police asked for help from Patricia Wiltshire, a forensic ecologist. The partner of the missing woman initially claimed he had killed her by mistake but couldn't remember where he had buried her body. Patricia was given access to his car and footwear, and was able to use her botany skills to pinpoint where the body of the missing woman was and help prove it was murder. And in Melsonby, analysis of blood spatter found at a crime scene revealed the truth behind a husband’s lies. A woman was found dead in the home she shared with her husband, above a post office. Her husband claimed that she had been held hostage, but this didn’t fit the timeframe. The police asked Jo Millington, an expert in blood spatter analysis, for help. Jo showed that the direction of blood at the crime scene meant there may never have been a break in, and the husband was convicted of murder. | New |
| Thursday, 17 November 2022 | Body in the Snow and Betrayed by a Text Series 2 Episode 4 of 15 After a 25-year-old woman goes missing in Bristol, the police launch a major missing-person enquiry. Soon after, the body of the young woman is discoved by dog walkers on Christmas Day, and the hunt becomes a major murder enquiry. As investigators can find no sign of forced entry to her flat, they conclude that her killer must be someone known to her. The investigating officers initially hope DNA evidence would lead them to her killer, but when this evidence fails to reveal any further leads, they turn to Kelly Sheridan, an expert in fibre analysis. Her first priority is to see if there are any foreign fibres on the victim’s clothes. The evidence she finds proves crucial in identifying and convicting the killer, who is not who the police thought. In Wales, we discover how the analysis of mobile phone data helped convict the men behind a brutal murder. Initially, the police thought they were investigating a violent burglary, but following the death of a young man, their investigation immediately turned into a murder inquiry. Expert witness Paul Hope then found texts on a phone that put friends of the victim in the frame. | New |
| Wednesday, 16 November 2022 | The Curry Killer and the Body on the Beach Series 2 Episode 3 of 15 Following the unexplained death of a man in Yorkshire, found alone in his home, with no signs of forced entry or a struggle, police were at a loss to explain his death. They turned to expert witness Duncan Campbell to help solve the mystery. Duncan, a forensic scientist, decided to analyse something that is part of our everyday lives, food. After examining the man’s final meal, the expert witness not only solved the crime, but in turn helped to make legal history by ensuring a guilty verdict was achieved in this very rare and unusual case. Sometimes, before you can identify a murderer, you have to identify the victim. Such a challenge faced the police when human remains washed up on a beach in Scotland. Detectives enlisted the help of expert witness Caroline Wilkinson to identify the body of the unknown victim. An expert in forensic facial reconstruction, Caroline was able to rebuild the facial features of the young woman. This allowed police to identify the victim and in turn enabled them to catch her killers and put them behind bars. | New |
| Tuesday, 15 November 2022 | Mystery of the Playground Shooter and Signature of a Killer Series 2 Episode 2 of 15 A young schoolboy is mysteriously shot in the head while playing in the school yard, but who fired the gun and from where? Philip Boyce, a forensic ballistics expert, is called in to test-fire a number of different guns and reconstruct the injuries to find out who fired the gun. A successful murder investigation isn’t always just about finding out who committed the crime. Police and prosecutors often have to prove the how and the why. When the body of a woman is found in a river in Wiltshire, the police turn to an expert in an unusual forensic discipline to help solve the crime. Paul Bagnall’s expertise in forensic handwriting identification helps prove intent and premeditation and decode the killer’s motives. | New |
| Monday, 14 November 2022 | Shallow Graves - Unearthing a Serial Killer Series 2 Episode 1 of 15 Some criminal investigations are so complicated that they require a number of expert witnesses to be involved. This programme examines how forensic evidence from a whole team of scientists turned a missing-person case into a hunt for a murderer, and then into an investigation into one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers. After the body of a young Polish woman was discovered in the basement of a church in Glasgow, police observed an element of organisation and methodology behind the killing and became convinced the culprit had murdered before. They launched a huge operation to dig into the killer's life: where he had been living, what he had been doing, and which nearby crimes remained unsolved? Their investigation led them to two cold cases, but only evidence from expert witnesses could reveal if these were the work of the same killer. The police enlisted the help of forensic scientists Jennifer Miller, Carol Rodgers and Peter Faulding - experts in a range of different disciplines, from bioarchaeology to forensic biology and ground-penetrating radar testing - to help them gather evidence. And despite the passage of time, the experts ensured that no piece of evidence was overlooked and that the truth was finally discovered. | New |
About Expert Witness
This dramatic true crime series reveals how some of the UK’s most serious and complex cases were solved by the expertise of a band of unsung heroes – the expert witnesses.
This show is broadcast on BBC, also known as the British Broadcasting Corporation.
