Making A Monster Episodes

Episode one tells the story of Rose West, one of the UK’s most notorious serial killers who was convicted of 10 murders in 1995. To the naked eye, Rose West seemed like any normal middle-aged housewife, living with her husband Fred West. But nothing could be further from the truth. Over many years, the couple abducted, tortured and murdered numerous young women and buried them under the patio at their house, including one of their own children.

Our group of experts offer fascinating insights into how she was the driving force behind her and Fred West’s crimes and how her dark and troubled past played a role in West to become the child-killing monster she is today. Featured in this episode, Paul Britton brings his first-hand account of Rose West’s crimes to the fore for the first time, having visited the infamous Cromwell Street to aid the police in their investigation.

Episode two investigates the life and crimes of Britain’s real ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’, Robert Maudsley. Those who have met Robert Maudsley say he is polite and kind; a man who loves poetry, art, classical music, and has a genius-level IQ. But he is also a deadly serial killer, dubbed the most dangerous prisoner in Britain with three of his four killings being committed behind bars. He is deemed so dangerous he has spent the past quarter of a century in virtual isolation in a ‘glass cage’ specifically designed to house him.

In addition to our panel of experts, Consultant Psychiatrist, Dr Bob Johnson worked closely with Robert Maudsley at Parkhurst Prison and believed to be making progress into rehabilitating Robert. Here he reveals some fascinating revelations about Maudsley and how serial killers are a product of their environment.

Levi Bellfield was found guilty on 25 February 2008 of the murders of Marsha McDonnell and Amélie Delagrange and the attempted murder of Kate Sheedy and sentenced to life imprisonment. Three years later he was found guilty for the murder of Milly Dowler.

Chartered forensic psychologist Dr Caoimhe McAnena interviewed Bellfield just after he’d confessed to the murder of Milly Dowler. Having also worked with infamous killers such as Trevor Hardy, Ian Huntley and Mark Bridger she provides a unique insight into what it takes to make a killer.

Scottish serial killer and paedophile, Robert Black was convicted of the kidnap, rape, sexual assault and murder of four girls aged between 5 and 11 in a series of killings committed between 1981 and 1986.

Having spent many hours interviewing Black, Forensic psychologist Dr Adrian Needs offers unprecedented insight into his dark mind.

Stephen Griffiths was convicted of all three Bradford murders after pleading guilty in 2010. In the episode, Professor Anthony Beech, Emeritus Professor in the Centre for Applied Psychology at the University of Birmingham and interview Griffiths in Wakefield Prison. As an expert in the neurological basis of offending and offers a fascinating opinion on how Griffiths went from being an eccentric loner to a crazed serial killer.

Aileen Wuornos was an American serial killer who murdered seven men in Florida in 1989 and 1990. Wuornos claimed that her victims had either raped or attempted to rape her while she was a sex worker, and that all of the homicides were committed in self-defence.

She was convicted and sentenced to death for six of the murders and was executed by lethal injection on October 9, 2002.

This episode features, Professor Jethro Toomer, who spent more than 35 years practising forensic and clinical psychology. Having specialised in death row cases, he interviewed a number of high-profile serial killers including Ted Bundy and Aileen Wuornos. He carried out the psychological assessment of Wuornos before her trial where she discussed her troubled life and transition to serial killing in unprecedented detail.

John Wayne Gacy was an American serial killer who raped, tortured and murdered at least 33 teenage boys and young men between 1972 and 1978. Convicted of 33 murders, Gacy was sentenced to death on March 13, 1980 for 12 of those murders. He spent 14 years on death row before he was executed by lethal injection.

In this episode, clinical psychologist Dr Richard Rappaport who acted as an expert witness in Gacy’s trial and interviewed him for more than 65 hours provides a deep understanding of his psyche and the factors that drove him to kill.

Between 1981 and 1984, Ross murdered eight girls and women aged between 14 and 25 in Connecticut and New York. In 2005 he was executed and is the last person to be sentenced to death in Connecticut before the state repealed capital punishment in 2012.

In the final episode of the series, psychiatrist and sexologist Dr Fred Berlin discusses appearing as an expert witness in Ross’s trial and supporting him through his attempts to bring forward his death penalty. Monday 23rd March at 9pm