The Shipman Files

An otherwise interesting programme, blatantly stretched out to triple the length of its constituent parts. Chris Wilson and co should be embarrassed at what they've done here. Talk about padding. A single one-hour programme with proper editing would have been plenty.

An engaging BBC miniseries exploring the crimes of killer doctor Harold Shipman, who is believed to have executed hundreds of his patients over a twenty year-plus career. It's generally focused and engaging, with lots of interesting conversations from various folk involved with the case, and it's always human stories at the heart too which is great. The one detraction is the emphasis on repetition - when one big emotional moment is revealed, we've already seen it three or four times on clips previously, which ruins the effect. Plus there are numerous bits of footage constantly repeated throughout the episodes. Did they think we wouldn't notice?