Channel 5 Orders Raft of True-Crime Docs

Channel 5 is bolstering its factual slate with six new documentaries focused on real-life crimes.

ITN Productions is set to produce the murder series Manhunt as well as the docu-drama The Railway Murders. Manhunt investigates the cases of Fred and Rosemary West, Shannon Matthews and Jamie Bulgerstyle, going deeper into the stories with never-before-seen footage and exclusive interviews. The Railway Murders, meanwhile, recounts a series of attacks on young women at railway stations in 1980s Britain.

Vice Studios is on board for the forensic psychology-led series Jack The Ripper: The Hidden Victims, which re-examine evidence from London’s most famous unsolved murders. Firecracker Films will produce the tentatively titled Luke Mitchell, which reopens the case files to one of Scotland’s most brutal murders. October Films will produce Worboys: The New Revelations, about Britain’s most prolific sexual predator, known as the Taxi Rapist. Lastly, Clockwork Films and Daisybeck Studios will co-produce the doc The Yorkshire Ripper: The Untold Story, a feature-length documentary film providing a fresh perspective on the crimes of Peter Sutcliffe.