About

A serial killer is a person who commits or murders for their own psychological gratification, with the killings separated by periods of inactivity, or “cooling off” periods. Luring victims to their death, they act out extreme sadistic urges, and lack any ability to empathise with the suffering of their victims.

Serial killers are the dark stars of modern culture. Their faces are familiar. We know what the Yorkshire Ripper and Ed Gein did… and how they did it. But what made them that act that way? What was the path they took from childhood to adulthood?

Each of the best known serial murderers has been closely scrutinised by psychologists seeking some clue as to what prompted their awful crimes. They will provide fascinating testimony about the early years, and reveal whether there is a common pattern in their development.

We interview school friends and family members about the childhood of the killer. We visit their neighbourhoods, and the scenes of their crimes. We talk to the investigating officers and revisit the press and television coverage of the time. And we speak with professional profilers to uncover the probable cause and effect that led these (often normal) children to turn into some of the world’s most infamous killers.

As well as finding out about their past and the details of the horrific crimes that they committed, each programme will also take an in depth look at the psychology of each killer to try to get an understanding of what drove them down the path to murder - was it madness? Or was it the culmination of a series of traumatising events in their early lives?

We'll also work closely with the investigating teams who eventually stopped the killers and found out how the clues came together and what part luck played. And we accompany the key profilers in each case back to the scenes of the crimes and discover what was going through their mind at the time and how they worked their art to get into the mind of the killer and ultimately catch them.

Born To Kill? will provide a fascinating insight into the personalities of some of the most infamous individuals of the last 30 years and the crimes that made them the icons of evil they are today.

Catch Born to Kill? Friday nights at 10pm

Read the crime files on Donald 'Pee Wee' Gaskins, Gary Ridgway, Edmund Kemper, Richard Ramirez, Dennis Nilsen and David Berkowitz.

(Photo: Gary Ridgway)